Diels-Alder reaction with benzenoid aromatics

The Diels-Alder reaction of benzenoid aromatic hydrocarbons with dienophiles was discovered more than fifty years ago [61, 62]. A classical example is the reaction of anthracene with maleic anhydride (Scheme 5). Although this type of reaction, termed endogenic or endocyclie Diels-Alder reaction, could be expected to be particularly well suited for correlating structure (topology) of benzenoid hydrocarbons with kinetic data, the problem has been systematically studied only very recently. Biermann and Schmidt in a series of publications [12, 29, 45, 63, 64] reported second-order rate constants (k2), measured under standard conditions (1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, 91.5 + 0.2 °C), for the endocyclie Diels-Alder reaction between maleic anhydride and 102 benzenoid hydrocarbons. Each rate constant was measured twice, the values usually... 

Experimental log k2 values were correlated with Brown para-localization energies, Dewar reactivity numbers, Herndon structure count ratios, Hess-Schaad resonance energy differences, indices of free valence, and second-order perturbation stabilization energies. The latter are based on Fukui s frontier orbital theory [67] which classifies the Diels-Alder reaction of benzenoid hydrocarbons with maleic anhydride as mainly HOMO (aromatic hydrocarbon)-LUMO (maleic anhydride) controlled. However, the corresponding orbital interaction energy given by... 

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are moderately reactive as the diene component of Diels-Alder reactions. Anthracene forms adducts with a number of reactive dienophiles. The addition occurs at the center ring. There is no net loss of resonance stabilization, because the anthracene ring (resonance energy = 1.60 eV) is replaced by two benzenoid rings (total resonance energy = 2 x 0.87 = 1.74 eV).48 49... 

Benzenoid hydrocarbons, which like perylene (10) contain a peripheral cisoid C4 arrangement (a bay region [71]), react with maleic anhydride in the presence of a suitable dehydrogenating agent to form fully aromatic dicarboxylic acid anhydrides 12 ( benzogenic Diels-Alder reaction ) [72, 73], Since in this process the ratedetermining step is the exocyclic Diels-Alder reaction leading to 11, the reactivity behaviour of the system is dominated by the Jt-electronic properties of the hydrocarbon centres at which this primary reaction occurs [74]. 

In this subchapter, I summarized the intermolecular two-component cycloaddition reactions, which are able to construct benzenoid aromatic rings. Four types of transition metal-catalyzed [4-r2] cycloaddition reactions (Diels-Alder reactions, reactions of enynes with alkynes, reactions via pyrylium intermediates, and reactions via acylmetallacycles) are described. 

Careful product and kinetic studies for selected electron-deficient alkenes, electron-rich dienes and vinyl-substituted aromatic systems have provided some clarification of the [2 + 2] versus [2 + 2] cycloaddition issue. The thermodynamically favored product can often be anticipated on structural grounds. Reactions of TCNE with vinyl-substituted benzenoid aromatics, protoporphorins or heteroaromaticsgive [2 + 2] products, but for some styrenes the [2 + 4] addition may be kinetically favored. p-Methoxystyrene and TCNE react to form a charge-transfer complex which leads reversibly to the Diels-Alder product, and eventually to the finally isolated [2 + 2] adduct. An isomer of di-cyclopentadiene shows the same pattern, with the initially formed Diels-Alder adduct giving rise to a [2 + 2] adduct. 

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