Diels-Alder reactions, electron-transfer

The transition state in a Diels-Alder reaction involves transfer of electrons from one molecule to the other. Using SpartanView to compare electrostatic potential maps of cyclopentadiene, tetracyanoethylcne, and their Diel.s-Alder transition state, describe the direction of electron transfer. 

From the foregoing it can be seen that the nitro group can be activated for C-C bond formation in various ways. Classically the nitro group facilitates the Henry reaction, Michael addition, and Diels-Alder reaction. Komblum and Russell have introduced a new substitution reaction, which proceeds via a one electron-transfer process The Spj l reactions have... 

Photo-induced Diels Alder reaction occurs either by direct photo activation of a diene or dienophile or by irradiation of a photosensitizer (Rose Bengal, Methylene Blue, hematoporphyrin, tetraphenylporphyrin) that interacts with diene or dienophile. These processes produce an electronically excited reagent (energy transfer) or a radical cation (electron transfer) or a radical (hydrogen abstraction) that is subsequently trapped by the other reagent. 

The single-electron transfer from one excited component to the other component acceptor, as the critical step prior to cycloaddition of photo-induced Diels Alder reactions, has been demonstrated [43] for the reaction of anthracene with maleic anhydride and various maleimides carried out in chloroform under irradiation by a medium-pressure mercury lamp (500 W). The (singlet) excited anthracene ( AN ), generated by the actinic light, is quenched by dienophile... 

Acetylchloride is a trapping agent that allows the reaction to go completion, transforming the product into a less oxidizable compound.The results of other reactions between indole (57) and substituted cyclohexa-1,3-dienes show that the photo-induced Diels-Alder reaction is almost completely regioselective. In the absence of 59 the cycloaddition did not occur the presence of [2+2] adducts was never detected. Experimental data support the mechanism illustrated in Scheme 4.14. The intermediate 57a, originated from bond formation between the indole cation radical and 58, undergoes a back-electron transfer to form the adduct 60 trapped by acetyl chloride. 

The low solubility of fullerene (Ceo) in common organic solvents such as THE, MeCN and DCM interferes with its functionalization, which is a key step for its synthetic applications. Solid state photochemistry is a powerful strategy for overcoming this difficulty. Thus a 1 1 mixture of Cgo and 9-methylanthra-cene (Equation 4.10, R = Me) exposed to a high-pressure mercury lamp gives the adduct 72 (R = Me) with 68% conversion [51]. No 9-methylanthracene dimers were detected. Anthracene does not react with Ceo under these conditions this has been correlated to its ionization potential which is lower than that of the 9-methyl derivative. This suggests that the Diels-Alder reaction proceeds via photo-induced electron transfer from 9-methylanthracene to the triplet excited state of Ceo-... 

Keywords Mg2+-catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions, anthracenes, p-benzoquin-one, photoinduced electron transfer... 

Recently, this concept could be transferred to the homologous silylium ions 3-Si (Si in cx-position to the ferrocene core) [18, 19], which were found to be potent catalysts for Diels-Alder reactions at low temperature [19]. The electron-rich ferrocene core buffers the Lewis acidity, thus avoiding the irreversible formation of Lewis pairs. 

Diels-Alder cycloaddition reactions of electron-poor dienophiles to electron-rich dienes, which are generally carried out thermally, afford widespread applications for C—C bond formation. On the basis of their electronic properties, numerous dienes can be characterized as electron donors and dienophiles as electron acceptors. Despite the early suggestions by Woodward,206 the donor/ acceptor association and electron-transfer paradigm are usually not considered as the simplest mechanistic formulation for the Diels-Alder reaction. However, the examples of cycloaddition reactions described below will show that photoirradiation of various D/A pairs leads to efficient cycloaddition reactions via electron-transfer activation. 

The long-lived isomeric xylylene cation radical then undergoes either coupling to the adducts in equation (72) or back electron transfer followed by Diels-Alder reaction of the resulting neutral xylylenes and chloranil. 

The thermal Diels-Alder reactions of anthracene with electron-poor olefinic acceptors such as tetracyanoethylene, maleic anhydride, maleimides, etc. have been studied extensively. It is noteworthy that these reactions are often accelerated in the presence of light. Since photoinduced [4 + 2] cycloadditions are symmetry-forbidden according to the Woodward-Hoffman rules, an electron-transfer mechanism has been suggested to reconcile experiment and theory.212 For example, photocycloaddition of anthracene to maleic anhydride and various maleimides occurs in high yield (> 90%) under conditions in which the thermal reaction is completely suppressed (equation 75). 

Hexamethyl[3]radialene (25) does not undergo Diels-Alder-reactions with the typical electron-poor dienophiles, probably because of the full substitution at the diene termini. With TCNE, however, a violet-blue charge-transfer complex is formed which disappears within 30 min at room temperature to form a 1 1 adduct (82% yield) to which structure 55 was assigned9. Similar observations were made with tris(2-adamantylidene)cyclopropane (34), but in this case cycloaddition product 56 (81% yield) was identified its allenic moiety is clearly indicated by IR and 13C NMR data12. 

The photo-induced single and double Diels-Alder reactions between [60]fullerene and 9-methylanthracene (212) which gave 213 and 214 were performed in the solid state by Mikami and colleagues (equation 60)141. The Diels-Alder reaction was considered to proceed following a photo-induced electron transfer from 9-methylanthracene to fullerene. The higher ionization potential of anthracene should explain its inreactivity toward the cycloaddition reaction with [60]fullerene. 

It is important to note that the reactions are fundamentally different from similar radical cation Diels-Alder reactions initiated with the use of a photochemical electron-transfer reaction [35, 36]. In photochemical reactions, a one-electron oxidation of the substrate leads to a cycloaddition that is then terminated by a back electron transfer . No net change is made in the oxidation state of the substrate. However, the reaction outlined in Scheme 13 involves a net two-electron oxidation of the substrate. Hence, the two pathways are complementary. 

Highly enantioselective 1,5-substitution reactions of enyne acetates are also possible under carefully controlled conditions (Eq. 4.31) [46]. For example, treatment of enantiomerically pure substrate 70 with the cyano-Gilman reagent tBu2CuLi-LiCN at —90 °C provided vinylallene 71 as a 1 3 mixture of E and 2 isomers with 20% and 74% ee, respectively. This mediocre selectivity might be attributable to race-mization of the allene by the cuprate or other reactive copper species formed in the reaction mixture. The use of phosphines as additives, however, can effectively prevent such racemizations (which probably occur by one-electron transfer steps) [47]. Indeed, vinylallene 71 was obtained with an ee of 92% for the E isomer and of 93% for the 2 isomer if the substitution was performed at —80 °C in the presence of 4 eq. of nBusP. Use of this method enabled various substituted vinylallenes (which are interesting substrates for subsequent Diels-Alder reactions Sect. 4.2.2) to be prepared with >90% ee. 

Photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer in the donor-acceptor complex 87 (R = H) generates transient charge-separated open-shell species with the remarkably long lifetime of about 75 ps [89]. Dyads that contain Tt-extended tetrathiafulvalene units also form stable cationic species upon oxidation [90]. The dumbbell shaped triad 91 [91-93] (Scheme 4.13) was obtained by carrying out the reaction with the in situ generated bis-diene at room temperature, in the dark and in o-dichlorobenzene as a solvent in 50% yield. The product is thermally unstable and easily undergoes a retro-Diels-Alder reaction [91]. 

D and A are locally excited states). Thus the excitation energies of all the electron transfer states D+A- and D A+ are reduced, and consequently the energy of the frontier orbital D+A state may be relatively much closer to zero than would appear from an examination of the ionization potentials and electron affinities alone. On the other hand Sustmann and Schubert120 found that the logarithm of the rate constant for a number of Diels-Alder reactions was inversely proportional to In—A a, though the points were widely scattered. 

Microwave-assisted Diels-Alder reactions of 9-substituted anthracenes with 2-acetamidoacrylate in DMF generate conformationally constrained bicyclic bisaryl a-amino acid derivatives with high regioselectivity.138 The Sc(OTf)3-catalysed Diels-Alder reaction of anthracenes with methyl vinyl ketone does not proceed via an electron-transfer process from anthracenes to the MVK-Sc(OTf)3 complex.139 (-)-(/ )-9-(l,2-Dimethoxyethyl)anthracene has been used as a chiral template in the Diels-Alder/retro-Diels-Alder sequence for the synthesis of a,j3-unsaturated lactams.140... 

The electron transfer activates molecule and enables the cycloaddition process. The kinetics of these reactions is well documented much less information is on the nature of regio- and stereoselectivity. The stepwise mechanism was proposed for the electron-transfer-catalysed Diels-Alder reaction of indole and 1,3-cyclohexadiene catalysed by fn s(4-bromophenyl)aminium hexachloroantimonate in dichloromethane at 0°C in the presence of NaHC03 and CH3COCI (Scheme 3).64... 

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