Diels-Alder reaction with aromatic heterocycles

The reactivity of heterocyclic dienes is determined by the nature and number of heteroatoms and, in the case of heteroaromatic compounds, also by the aromatic character. Furans undergo Diels-Alder reactions with strong dienophiles and generally afford cxo-cycloadducts which are thermodynamically more stable than the kinetically favoured c z/o-adducts. 

Azadienes undergo Diels-Alder reactions to form pyridine, dihydro- and tetrahydropyridine derivatives. N-Vinyl lactim ethers undergo Diels-Alder reactions with a limited set of dienophiles. " Thioketones react with dienes to give Diels-Alder cycloadducts. The carbonyl group of lactams have also been shown to be a dienophile. Certain heterocyclic aromatic rings (among them furans) can also behave as dienes in the Diels-Alder reaction. Some hetero dienes that give the reaction are -C=C-C=0, 0=C-C=0, and N=C-C=N. ... 

It has been known that aromatic heterocycles such as furan, thiophene, and pyrrole undergo Diels-Alder reactions despite their aromaticity and hence expected inertness. Furans have been especially used efficiently as dienes due to their electron-rich properties. Thiophenes and pyrroles are less reactive as dienes than furans. But pyrroles with A-elecIron-withdrawing substituents are efficient dienes. There exists a limited number of examples of five-membered, aromatic heterocycles acting as dienophiles in Diels-Alder reactions. Some nitro heteroaromatics serve as dienophiles in the Diels-Alder reactions. Heating a mixture of l-(phenylsulfonyl)-3-nitropyrrole and isoprene at 175 °C followed by oxidation results in the formation of indoles (see Eq. 8.22).35a A-Tosyl-3-nitroindole undergoes high-yielding Diels-Alder reactions with... 

A methodology that constructs the ISQ core directly from pyridines using a 7t-basic tungsten complex to disrupt the aromatic stabilization of these inert heterocycles was recently reported [70]. For example, common pyridine derivatives, e.g., 2-dimethylaminopyridine, will undergo stereoselective Diels-Alder reactions with electron-deficient alkenes, e.g., acrylonitrile. 

The oxazoles also display a number of characteristics that are typical of the furans and are explained by the structural similarity of these heterocyclic systems. The ease with which they undergo Diels-Alder reactions with dienophiles and autooxidation with singlet oxygen (see Sections IV, D and E) clearly demonstrates that oxazoles are not fully aromatic. This fact and ultraviolet data (Section III, E) suggest that oxazoles should be considered partly as conjugated dienes. 

As we have demonstrated with the example of [4//]-l,2-diazole as a diene for the Diels-Alder addition, there are two critical prerequisites for any five-membered heterocycle to become a diene for the Diels alder reaction the aromaticity of the heterocycle should be diminished as much as possible and the formation of two CC bonds is preferable over formation of a C-heteroatom bond. Because these reactions are LUMO diene controlled, it is helpful if electron-withdrawing substituents are attached to the heterocyclic ring, all of which may be accomplished if the nitrogen in position one of 1,2-diazole and 1,3,4-triazole is quaternized. We expect that these heterocycles should be exceptionally good dienes that promote the formation of the endo cycloadduct due to strong steric repulsion interactions between methyl groups of quaternized heterocycles and the dienophiles. To reinforce the existence of a high localization of the double bonds in... 

Asymmetric aza Diels-Alder reactions provide a useful route to optically active heterocyclics such as piperidines and tetrahydroquinolines.45 Although successful examples of diastereoselective approaches had been reported as early as 10 years ago,46 only recently have enantioselective reactions been accomplished.47 For example, the reaction of chiral amine-derived aromatic imine 115 with Brassard s diene 116 gives adduct 117 with up to 95% diaster-eoselectivity (Scheme 5-37).48... 

In carbocyclic chemistry, rather firm dividing lines usually exist between aromatic, non-aromatic, and anti-aromatic compounds, while in heterocyclic chemistry enormous variations in the extent of aromatic character are displayed.52 Furthermore, there is an enormous number of potential heterocycles as compared to carbocycles, as will be detailed in section 3 of this review. The degree of aromaticity has classically been judged qualitatively in connection with the diene character of heterocycles manifested in Diels— Alder reactions or polymerizations. In this regard for instance, furan (42) is less aromatic than benzene (43), as is isoindole (44) compared to indole (45) (Scheme 18). Therefore, a quantitative aromaticity scale would be useful. 

Tetrazines react with alkenes to give bicycles (403) which lose nitrogen to give the 4,5-dihydropyridazine (404). This can either tautomerize to a 1,4-dihydropyridazine, be oxidized to the aromatic pyridazine, or undergo a second Diels-Alder reaction to give (405). Many heterocycles can act as the dienophiles in such reactions for example thiophene gives (406). The reaction is also used to trap unstable compounds, for example, 2-phenylbenzazete (407) as compound (408). 

Arsenin, antimonin and bismin react readily with dienophiles in the Diels-Alder reaction, and the reaction with hexafluoro-2-butyne and other acetylenic dienophiles has been used to trap these heterocycles as barrelenes (115), in particular the unstable bismin (equation 21). The reactivity increases with increasing size of the heteroatom and this may be related to decreased aromatic character of the heterobenzenes with increasing size of the heteroatom. In fact, bismin and antimonin are so reactive that at low temperatures (< -10 °C and < - 50 °C respectively) both exist as Diels-Alder dimers (116 equation 20). 

Although the number of Diels-Alder cycloadditions with open-chain and alicyclic dienes is very large, the number of examples with aromatic heterocyclic compounds is relatively small. The introduction of a vinyl group as a substituent onto a heterocycle increases the number of possibilities of reaction. This new possibility, however attractive for synthetic purposes, is successful, with a few exceptions, only with 7r-excessive five-membered heterocyclic derivatives. As is usual in this kind of reaction, Michael additions, ene reactions, [2 + 2]-cycloadditions, and polymerization compete with the Diels-Alder cycloaddition. 

From all the above calculations, one arrives at a conclusion that 1,2-dihydrodiazetes are simply constrained nonaromatic heterocycles that do not benefit from aromatic stabilization. Also, these compounds undergo facile Diels-Alder reactions or bromination reactions, with no tendency to regain the 7t-structure and are thus characteristic for typical nonaromatic compounds. 

The aromaticity of a heterocycle depends on how effectively the lone-pair of the heteroatom contributes to the aromatic sextet. The aromaticity of five-membered heterocyclic compounds may be estimated from their reactivity in the Diels-Alder reaction.94 Spectrophotometry shows that furan, thiophene, and selenophene resemble benzene in that with maleic anhydride 1 1 complexes are formed which are stable up to 150°C in the case of thiophene, decompose at 150°C with selenophene (whereby selenium is formed together with a diene which gives a further adduct with another molecule of maleic anhydride), and produce the usual adduct at 20°C with furan. Thus, only furan is a normal diene as regards the Diels-Alder reaction. 

It is important to recall that the reactivity pattern of phosphoies is very different from that of the related S, N, and O ring systems due to their limited aromatic character. For example, electrophilic substitution takes place only with a handful of phosphoies that have been specifically tailored via increasing the bulkiness of the P substituent (see Section 3.15.10.4, Scheme 83). In fact, electrophiles react at the phosphoms atom affording a panel of neutral and cationic CN 4 derivatives (Scheme 8). Phosphoies are also versatile synthons for the preparation of other heterocyclic systems via Diels-Alder reactions. The cycloaddition can involve the dienic moiety of the phosphole ring or can occur following a 1,5-shift of the P-substituent (Scheme 8). Finally, phosphoies can be transformed into phospholide ions, which are powerful nucleophiles that have found a variety of applications (Scheme 8). All these facets of phosphole reactivity are presented in this section. It should also be noted that CN 3 phosphoies exhibit a rich coordination chemistry toward transition metals (see Section 3.15.12.2). 

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