Diels-Alder reaction forbidden” cycloaddition

In a photochemical cycloaddition, one component is electronically excited as a consequence of the promotion of one electron from the HOMO to the LUMO. The HOMO -LUMO of the component in the excited state interact with the HOMO-LUMO orbitals of the other component in the ground state. These interactions are bonding in [2+2] cycloadditions, giving an intermediate called exciplex, but are antibonding at one end in the [,i4j + 2j] Diels-Alder reaction (Scheme 1.17) therefore this type of cycloaddition cannot be concerted and any stereospecificity can be lost. According to the Woodward-Hoffmann rules [65], a concerted Diels-Alder reaction is thermally allowed but photochemically forbidden. 

The reaction of furan with 2,5-dihydrothiophene-3,4-dicarboxylic anhydride is remarkable (Scheme 6.19). Furan is a poor diene and requires high pressure to affect cycloadditions [39]. On the other hand, high temperatures are forbidden because cycloaddition products derived from furan undergo cycloreversion under these conditions. In 5.0m LP-DE, the Diels-Alder reaction of furan with 2,5-dihydrothiophene-3,4-dicarboxylic anhydride proceeds at room temperature and atmospheric pressure in 9.5 h with 70 % yield and with the same diastereos-electivity found when the reaction is carried out under high pressure [40]. 

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). 

Our initial studies focused on the transition metal-catalyzed [4+4] cycloaddition reactions of bis-dienes. These reactions are thermally forbidden, but occur photochemically in some specific, constrained systems. While the transition metal-catalyzed intermole-cular [4+4] cycloaddition of simple dienes is industrially important [7], this process generally does not work well with more complex substituted dienes and had not been explored intramolecularly. In the first studies on the intramolecular metal-catalyzed [4+4] cycloaddition, the reaction was found to proceed with high regio-, stereo-, and facial selectivity. The synthesis of (+)-asteriscanoHde (12) (Scheme 13.4a) [8] is illustrative of the utihty and step economy of this reaction. Recognition of the broader utiHty of adding dienes across rc-systems (not just across other dienes) led to further studies on the use of transition metal catalysts to facilitate otherwise difficult Diels-Alder reactions [9]. For example, the attempted thermal cycloaddition of diene-yne 15 leads only... 

We have emphasized that the Diels-Alder reaction generally takes place rapidly and conveniently. In sharp contrast, the apparently similar dimerization of olefins to cyclobutanes (5-49) gives very poor results in most cases, except when photochemically induced. Fukui, Woodward, and Hoffmann have shown that these contrasting results can be explained by the principle of conservation of orbital symmetry,895 which predicts that certain reactions are allowed and others forbidden. The orbital-symmetry rules (also called the Woodward-Hoffmann rules) apply only to concerted reactions, e.g., mechanism a, and are based on the principle that reactions take place in such a way as to maintain maximum bonding throughout the course of the reaction. There are several ways of applying the orbital-symmetry principle to cycloaddition reactions, three of which are used more frequently than others.896 Of these three we will discuss two the frontier-orbital method and the Mobius-Huckel method. The third, called the correlation diagram method,897 is less convenient to apply than the other two. 

Scheme 6.3 applies these rules by showing the HL structures for two cycloaddition reactions 11R and 11P are the structures for the reactants and products of the Woodward-Hoffmann forbidden 2 + 2 reaction, while 12R and 12P are the structures for the Woodward-Hoffmann allowed Diels—Alder reaction. In both cases, the difference in the HL structure is only the mode of spin coupling, and therefore the promotion energy G will involve only singlet-triplet excitations. In accord, we drew in Fig. 6.5 the corresponding... 

Let us go through the same steps for a symmetry-forbidden reaction, the ln s+A] cycloaddition 6.141. We first draw the reaction and put in the curly arrows—the orbitals are evidently the n and n of each of the n bonds. There are two symmetry elements maintained this time—a plane like that in the Diels-Alder reaction, bisecting the n bonds, but also another between the two reagents, which reflect each other through that plane. 

In view of the demonstrated stereospecificity of at least some cation radical Diels-Alder reactions, it is at least possible that these reactions, like the neutral Diels-Alder, are true pericyclic reactions, i.e., they may occur via a concerted cycloaddition. The results of a variety of calculations, however, make clear that the cydoadditions must at least be highly non-synchronous, so that the extent of the formation of the second bond, which completes the cyclic transition state, is no more than slight [55, 56]. If the cation radical Diels-Alder reaction is nevertheless interpreted as pericyclic and the concept of orbital correlation diagrams is applied to them, it emerges that the cycloaddition is symmetry allowed if the ionized (cation radical) component is the dienophile, but forbidden if it is the diene [39, 55], The former mode of reaction has been referred to as the [4-1-1] mode, and the latter as the [3 -t- 2] mode. Interestingly, the great majority of cation radical Diels-Alder reactions thus far observed seem to represent the formally allowed [4-1-1] mode. An interesting case in point is the reaction of l,l -dicyclohexenyl with 2,3-dimethylbutadiene (Scheme 24) [57]. 

In all of the above discussion we have assumed that a given molecule forms both the new ct bonds from the same face of the n system. This manner of bond formation, called suprafacial, is certainly most reasonable and almost always takes place. The subscript s is used to designate this geometry, and a normal Diels-Alder reaction would be called a [ 2s + 4J-cycloaddition (the subscript 71 indicates that n electrons are involved in the cycloaddition). However, we can conceive of another approach in which the newly forming bonds of the diene lie on opposite faces of the n system, that is, they point in opposite directions. This type of orientation of the newly formed bonds is called antarafacial, and the reaction would be a [ 2 + 4a]-cycloaddition (a stands for antarafacial). We can easily show by the frontier-orbital method that this reaction (and consequently the reverse ring-opening reactions) are thermally forbidden and photoche-mically allowed. Thus in order for a [fZs + -reaction to proceed, overlap between the highest occupied n orbital of the alkene and the lowest unoccupied 71 orbital of the diene would have to occur as shown in Fig. 15.10, with a + lobe... 

Fig. 23.5. The state correlations in VBSCDs that describe the forbidden 2 + 2 cycloaddition (a), and the allowed Diels-Alder reaction (b). Avoided crossing as in Fig. 23.1a will generate the final adiabatic profiles.

MOs, while tlie two 7t c orbitals lead to the tt and tt MOs. In the initial stage of (he dimerization, the interaction between two ethylencs is weak so that 7t+ and tt. lie far below the n+ and tt levels, so that only 7t+ and rr are occupied. Of the a orbitals of cyclobutane described earlier, only those related to the tt., 7t1 and nl levels by symmetry are shown in Figure 11.1. Not all the occupied MOs of the reactant lead to occupied orbitals in the product. In particular, tt. correlates with one component of the empty set in cyclobutane. The tt+ combination ultimately becomes one component of the filled set in cyclobutane. So the reaction is symmetry forbidden. The reader should carefully compare the correlation diagram for ethylene dimerization here with the Ho + O2 reaction in ITgure 5.8. flie two correlation diagrams are very similar, as they should be, since in this instance the spatial dfstributions of tt and n " are similar to those of and respectively, in H2. These two reactions are probably the premier examples of symmetry-forbidden reactions. A related symmetry-allowed example is the concerted cycloaddition of ethylene and butadiene, the Diels-Alder reaction. We shall not cover the orbital symmetry rules for organic, pericyclic reactions. There are several excellent reviews that the reader should consult.But it should be pointed out that the orbital symmetry rules have stereochemical implications in terms of the reaction path and products formed. The development of these rules by Woodward and Hoffmann... 

The objective of this article is to illustrate, in some detail,the applicability of the model described in the previous chapter [1] to a problem of chemical interest namely the concept of forbidden and allowed cycloadditions. We shall consider 3 prototype cycloaddition reactions a) the forbidden cycloaddition reaction of ethylene+ethylene, (b) the allowed cycloaddition (Diels Alder ) reaction of butadiene+ethylene and (c) the allowed 1,3 dipolar cycloaddition of fulminic acid+acetylene.. 

Although [2 + 2] and [4 + 4] cycloadditions bear a formal relationship to the Diels-Alder reaction, neither, in fact, takes place under the thermal conditions required for Diels-Alder reactions (see Section 20.4) because they are forbidden as determined by the frontier molecular orbital analysis. 

To summarize, the [2 + 2] cycloadditions will proceed photochemicaUy, but not thermally. On the other hand, the [2 + 4] cycloadditions such as Diels-Alder reactions are allowed thermally and forbidden photochemicaUy. 

The observation of the silacyclohex-3-ene 83 was rationalized by a [2+2] cycloaddition of ethylene to give unusual 2-vinylcyclobutane 536. A facile ring expansion via a 1,3-silyl shift to the terminal methylene group yields 83. Surprisingly, the relative product ratio 82/83 suggests that Afor the forbidden [2 + 2] reaction is slightly smaller than for the stereospecific allowed Diels-Alder path54. 

The aromaticities of symmetry-allowed and -forbidden transition states for electrocyclic reactions and sigmatropic rearrangements involving two, four, and six r-electrons, and Diels-Alder cycloadditions, have been investigated by ab initio CASSCF calculations and analysis based on an index of deviation from aromaticity. The order of the aromaticity levels was found to correspond to the energy barriers for some of the reactions studied, and also to the allowed or forbidden nature of the transition states.2 The uses of catalytic metal vinylidene complexes in electrocycliza-tion, [l,5]-hydrogen shift reactions, and 2 + 2-cycloadditions, and the mechanisms of these transformations, have been reviewed.3... 

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