Diels-Alder protonation

It is obvious that the reaction is accelerated markedly by water. However, for the first time, the Diels-Alder reaction is not fastest in water, but in 2,2,2-trifiuoroethanol (TFE). This might well be a result of the high Bronsted acidity of this solvent. Indirect evidence comes from the pH-dependence of the rate of reaction in water (Figure 2.1). Protonation of the pyridyl nitrogen obviously accelerates the reaction. 

Copper is clearly the most selective metal-ion catalyst. Interestingly, proton catalysis also leads to high selectivities. This is a strong indication that selectivity in this catalysed Diels-Alder reaction does not result from steric interactions. 

Note that for 4.42, in which no intramolecular base catalysis is possible, the elimination side reaction is not observed. This result supports the mechanism suggested in Scheme 4.13. Moreover, at pH 2, where both amine groups of 4.44 are protonated, UV-vis measurements indicate that the elimination reaction is significantly retarded as compared to neutral conditions, where protonation is less extensive. Interestingy, addition of copper(II)nitrate also suppresses the elimination reaction to a significant extent. Unfortunately, elimination is still faster than the Diels-Alder reaction on the internal double bond of 4.44. 

Turning the argument around reactions that do not involve proton transfer steps will only experience a significant effect of the Lewis acids if a direct interaction exists between catalyst and reactant. The conventional Diels-Alder reaction is a representative of this class of reactions. As long as monodentate reactants are used, the effects of Lewis acids on this reaction do not exceed the magnitude expected for simple salt effects, i.e. there are no indications for a direct interaction between Lewis-acid and substrate. 

The reactions of pyrroles with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) have been extensively investigated. In the presence of a proton donor the Michael adducts (125) and (126) are formed. However, under aprotic conditions the reversible formation of the 1 1 Diels-Alder adduct (127) is an important reaction. In the case of the adduct from 1-methylpyrrole, reaction with a further molecule of DMAD can occur to give a dihydroindole (Scheme 48) (82H(19)1915). 

Strong eross signals linking the CH2 group (S = 2.34) with the proton at = 3.36 eonfirm the regioseleetivity of the Diels-Alder reaetion and indieate the adduet B the CH2 is bonded to the phenyl-C// rather than to the nitro-C// group if it were bonded to the latter, then eross signals for Sh = 2.34 and 5.12 would be observed. 

The FMOs of acrolein to the left in Fig. 8.2 are basically slightly perturbed butadiene orbitals, while the FMOs of protonated acrolein resemble those of an allyl cation mixed in with a lone-pair orbital on the oxygen atom (Fig. 8.2, right). Based on the FMOs of protonated acrolein, Houk et al. [2] argued that the predominant interaction in a normal electron-demand carbo-Diels-Alder reaction is between the dienophile LUMO and diene HOMO (Fig. 8.1, left). This interaction is greatly... 

Bronsted-acid-catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions are not frequent because of the proton sensitivity of many dienes and cycloadducts, especially when long reaction times and high temperatures are required. Examples in aqueous medium involving imines activated by protonation as dienophiles and a proton-promoted Diels-Alder reaction of glyoxylic acid with cyclopentadiene are considered in Section 6.1. 

The chiral catalyst 142 achieves selectivities through a double effect of intramolecular hydrogen binding interaction and attractive tt-tt donor-acceptor interactions in the transition state by a hydroxy aromatic group [88]. The exceptional results of some Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with substituted acroleins catalyzed by (R)-142 are reported in Table 4.21. High enantio- and exo selectivity were always obtained. The coordination of a proton to the 2-hydroxyphenyl group with an oxygen of the adjacent B-0 bond in the nonhelical transition state should play an important role both in the exo-endo approach and in the si-re face differentiation of dienophile. 

An alternative strategy for promoting Diels-Alder reaction by proton involves the activation of dienophile by hydrogen bonding [93]. Biphenylene diol 143 (Scheme 4.26) forms doubly hydrogen-bonded complexes with a,j]-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, which strongly accelerate the Diels-Alder... 

Simple imines are poor dienophiles and must be activated by protonation or by attaching an electron-withdrawing group to the nitrogen atom. Scheme 6.10 illustrates the Diels-Alder reactions of benzyliminium ion 25, generated in situ from an aqueous solution of benzylamine hydrochloride and commercial aqueous formaldehyde, with methylsubstituted 1,3-butadienes [22]. This aqueous Diels-Alder reaction combines three components (an aldehyde, an amine... 

In contrast LP-DE gives disappointing results for intramolecular imino Diels-Alder reactions, even in the presence of CSA. This is due to the fact that weak acids become strong acids in highly polar media such as 5.0m LP-DE and the protonation of diene, with concomitant diene isomerization, competes with cycloaddition [42]. This observation was supported by using trifluoroacetic acid (TEA). The imine 33 (Scheme 6.21) in LP-DE at room temperature in the presence of TEA gave a 1 1 mixture of cycloadduct 34 and the isomerized diene 35 within the unreacted imine 33. No Diels-Alder cycloadduct 36 was detected. 

Protic solvents such as i-PrOH and t-BuOH favor the diastereoselectivity of the reaction of 3-hydroxy-2-pyrone with acrylates [49b]. Further examples of proton-promoted Diels-Alder reactions are reported in Section 4.8. 

Regioselectivities [7] and endo selectivity [8, 9] increase upon Lewis acid catalysis of Diels-Alder reactions (Scheme 9). Houk and Strozier [10] found that protonation on the carbonyl oxygen of acrolein amplifies the LUMO at the terminal and... 

Ab initio calculation of Diels-Alder reactions of a series of 5-heteroatom substituted cyclopentadienes Cp-X (65 X = NH, 50 X = NH, 64 X = NH3, 67 X = O", 54 X = OH, 68 X = OH3% 69 X = PH, 51 X = PH, 70 X = PH3% 71 X = S, 55 X = SH, 72 X = SH/) with ethylene at HF/6-31++G(d)//HF/6-31-i i-G(d) level by BumeU and coworkers [37] provided counterexamples of the Cieplak effect. The calculation showed that ionization of substituents has a profound effect on the n facial selectivity deprotonation enhances syn addition and protonation enhances anti addition. The transition states for syn addition to the deprotonated dienes are stabilized relative to those of the neutral dienes, while those for anti addition are destabilized relative to those of the neutral dienes. On the other hand, activation energies for syn addition to the protonated dienes are similar to those of the neutral dienes, but those for anti addition are very much lowered relative to neutral dienes (Table 6). 

MCP (1) is not known to undergo [4 + 2] cycloadditions. The substitution of two, or more, ring protons with fluorine atoms, however, seems to improve dramatically the dienophilic reactivity of the exocyclic double bond. 2,2-Di-fluoromethylenecyclopropane (5) is a quite reactive dienophile in Diels-Alder cycloadditions. With cyclopentadiene (6) and furan (7), it formed two isomeric adducts (Scheme 1) [9]. In both cases the adduct with the endo CF2 group is the major isomer. 

In some cases the C /C2 double bond in methylene cyclopropenes and calicenes was found to show dienophilic functionality towards diene components. Thus, di-ethylamino butadiene combines with 497 to give the Diels-Alder adduct 507, whose proton-catalyzed elimination of amine interestingly did not lead to the dibenzo heptafulvalene 508, but to the methylene norcaradiene derivative 509293 ... 

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