Diels-Alder reactions and -cycloadditions

Diels-Alder Reactions and Cycloadditions onto Electron-Deficient Cycioaddends... 

As unsaturated sulfones, thiophene-S,S-dioxides are employed as dienophiles and Michael acceptors as dienes, they undergo a variety of synthetically useful Diels-Alder reactions and cycloadditions [4], The reaction pathway is related to the structure of the dioxide, which can behave either as a diene or as a dienophile depending on the substitution pattern [5]. 

The Diels-Alder reaction (and cycloadditions in general) [59] is commonly utilized to represent atom-economical processes. In many examples, heat or light drives these reactions and all atoms present in the flask end up in the product (solvent excluded). Biosynthetic hypotheses based on cycloadditions for the PIAs sceptrin (66) ([2+2]) [60] and ageUferin ([4+2], not depicted) [61] from hymenidin (67) highlight this point (Scheme 13.10). Some facts suggest that it is unlikely that sceptrin is formed by a light-catalyzed... 

The following compounds have been obtained from thiete 1,1-dioxide Substituted cycloheptatrienes, benzyl o-toluenethiosulfinate, pyrazoles, - naphthothiete 1,1-dioxides, and 3-subst1tuted thietane 1,1-dioxides.It is a dienophile in Diels-Alder reactions and undergoes cycloadditions with enamines, dienamines, and ynamines. Thiete 1,1-dioxide is a source of the novel intermediate, vinylsulfene (CH2=CHCH=SQ2). which undergoes cyclo-additions to strained olefinic double bonds, reacts with phenol to give allyl sulfonate derivatives or cyclizes unimolecularly to give an unsaturated sultene. - Platinum and iron complexes of thiete 1,1-dioxide have been reported. 

The stereochemistry of the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction is analogous to that of the Diels-Alder reaction and is a stereospecific syn addition. Diazomethane, for example, adds stereospecifically to the diesters 43 and 44 to yield the pyrazolines 45 and 46, respectively. 

Gothelf presents in Chapter 6 a comprehensive review of metal-catalyzed 1,3-di-polar cycloaddition reactions, with the focus on the properties of different chiral Lewis-acid complexes. The general properties of a chiral aqua complex are presented in the next chapter by Kanamasa, who focuses on 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of nitrones, nitronates, and diazo compounds. The use of this complex as a highly efficient catalyst for carbo-Diels-Alder reactions and conjugate additions is also described. 

The /lomo-Diels-Alder reaction is a [2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition of a 1,4-diene with a dienophile which produces two new bonds and a cyclopropane ring. This reaction is an example of a multi-ring-forming reaction that to date has found few applications in synthesis, since the use of 1,4-dienes has been limited mainly to bridged cyclohexa-1,4-dienes and almost exclusively to norbornadiene. Lewis-acid catalysts accelerate /lowo-Diels-Alder reactions and increase the selectivity for the [2 + 2 + 2] vs. [2 + 2] cycloaddition. 

Silica gel [11] or alumina [11a, 12] alone, or silica and alumina together modified by Lewis-acid treatment [13] and zeolites [14], have been widely used as catalysts in Diels-Alder reactions, and these solids have also been tested as catalysts in asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions [12,13b,14]. Activated silica gel and alumina at 140 °C were used [15] to catalyze the asymmetric cycloaddition of (-)-menthyl-N-acetyl-a, S-dehydroalaninate (3) (R = NHCOMe) with cyclopentadiene in the key step for synthesizing optically active cycloaliphatic a-amino acids. When the reactions were carried out in the absence of solvent, a higher conversion was obtained. Some results are reported in Table 4.5 and compared with those obtained by using silica and alumina modified by treatment with Lewis acids. Silica gel gives a reasonable percentage of conversion after 24 h with complete diastereofacial selectivity in exo addition. 

Engberts [3e, 9] has extensively investigated the Diels Alder reaction in aqueous medium. Recently Engberts and colleagues reported [9c] a kinetic study of a Diels Alder reaction of N-alkyl maleimides with cyclopentadiene, 2,3-dimethyl-1,3-butadiene and 1,3-cyclohexadiene in different solvents. The reaction rates of the cycloadditions with the open-chain diene relative to w-hexane are reported in Table 6.3. The aqueous medium greatly accelerates the Diels Alder reaction and the acceleration increases as the hydrophobic character of the alkyl group of the dienophile increases. These and other kinetic data [3e, 9], along with the observation that the intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction is also accelerated in... 

Roush W. R. Stereochemical and Synthetic Studies of the Intramolecular Diels-Alder Reaction Adv. Cycloaddit. 1990 2 91-146... 

Another combination of hetero-Diels-Alder reactions and a [3+2] cycloaddition of a nitroalkene was described by Avalos and coworkers [46]. Using the chiral substrate 4-134 derived from a sugar, the domino process can be performed as a three-component transformation using an electron-rich dienophile and an electron-poor... 

In contrast to the failure of Diels-Alder reactions, dipolar cycloadditions of indoles are much more successful, and the Boger group has reported a fascinating [4+2]/l,3-dipolar cycloaddition cascade involving indole as the dipolarophile in their impressive synthesis of vindoline (Scheme 4.8) [26]. After the initial... 

This chapter focuses on some typical examples, starting with the usual cycloaddition reactions and then the catalytic asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions, hetero Diels-Alder reactions, retro Diels-Alder reactions, and intramolecular... 

The first stannenes were obtained as reactive intermediates that were identified by their reaction products.570,571 For example, Me2Sn=C(SiMe3)2 (Scheme 20) was prepared by the 1,2-elimination of LiBr, or by a retro-Diels-Alder reaction, and was characterized by cyclodimerization, by ene reactions with alkenes, and by cycloaddition with 1,4-dienes.572... 

Allenes as versatile synthons including Diels-Alder reactions and especially intramolecular cycloadditions of this type were reviewed by Aso and Kanematsu [338], In some cases of intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions of open-chain starting materials such as 340 [339], 342 [339] and similar acceptor-substituted allenes [156], the formation of two new six-membered rings seems to be favorable if possible (Scheme 7.48). The non-activated cumulated C=C bond of 340 takes part in the [4+ 2]-cycloaddition and hence the necessary reaction temperature is high. On the other hand, the progressive truncation of the tether and the electron deficiency of the allenic C=C bond involved give rise to a remarkable Diels-Alder reactivity of the sulfone 346 generated in situ from sulfoxide 345 [339]. 

Neutral Diels-Alder reactions encompass cycloadditions of dienes and dienophiles with intermediate electronic characters. 

Diels-Alder reactions (and other cycloadditions) are accelerated in water due to a combination of enforced hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding, their relative contributions depending on the nature of the diene and dienophile. Subsequent work has shown that a large variety of other organic reactions show comparable favorable characteristics in aqueous media. 

Isocyclic and heterocyclic compounds are very often synthesized by cycloaddition reactions. The most widespread reactions are the Diels-Alder reaction and the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition. 

The domino cycloaddition-iV-acyliminium ion cyclization cascade has been extensively reviewed. Tandem reactions combining Diels-Alder reactions and sigma-tropic rearrangement reactions in organic synthesis have been extensively reviewed. The tandem Diels-Alder reaction between acetylenedicarboxaldehyde and N,N -dipyrrolylmethane has been extensively studied at the RHT/3-21G and RHF/6-31G levels.The molecular mechanism of the domino Diels-Alder reaction between hexafluorobut-2-yne and A,A -dipyrrolylmethane has been studied using density functional theory. 

The Diels-Alder Reaction and a 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Summaries... 

Wittkopp and Schreiner introduced the simple electron-deficient N,N -bis [3,5-(trif-luoromethyl)phenyl]thiourea 9 (Figure 6.3) as an efficient double hydrogen-bonding organocatalyst in a series of Diels-Alder reactions and 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions of... 

Carbonyl or cyano groups, of proven value in Diels-Alder reactions and 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions, are unsuitable for anionic cycloadditions owing to the pronounced nucleophilic and basic character of the anionic reagents. Instead of cycloaddition nucleophilic attack of these groups or deprotonation of the substrates would occur. This means that aromatic residues are indispensible which are practically unremovable after the cycloaddition and, unlike the carbonyl group, hardly unsuitable for subsequent synthetic steps. 

The distinction between Diels-Alder reactions and 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions is semantic for the five-membered rings Diels-Alder reaction at the F/B positions in (357) (four atom fragment) is... 

The synthetic importance of these reactions is very great and, because many of them often involve dienes, we will discuss their general characteristics in this chapter. The most valuable cycloaddition reaction almost certainly is the [4 + 2], or Diels-Alder, reaction and will be discussed in detail. 

Allylic nitro compounds containing a suitable dipolarophile undergo Diels-Alder cycloaddition to alkenes in the presence of tin(lV) chloride affording cyclic nitronic esters (Scheme 16).26 Nitronic ester (59) could not be isolated but spontaneously cyclized to the 5,5-fiised cyclic product (60), isolated in 68% yield. The nitronic esters (61a) and (61b) were isolated from the Diels-Alder reaction and could be separated. Heating (61a) in refluxing benzene afforded the 5,6-fused dipolar cydization product (62a) in 93% (68% overall) yield (61b) likewise afforded (62b) in 62% (11% overall) yield. Either (62a) or (62b) could be converted to the tricyclic lactam (63) by catalytic hydrogenolysis followed by lactamiza-... 

Diels-Alder reactions are sometimes classified as [4+2] cycloadditions, and 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions as [3+2], where the numbers identify the number of atoms involved in the two chains. This classification is not as useful as the one used throughout this book, which is based on the number of electrons involved. In this classification, both Diels-Alder reactions and 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions are [4+2] cycloadditions—4 electrons from the diene or... 

The rates of Diels-Alder reactions are little affected by the polarity of the solvent. If a zwitterionic intermediate were involved, the intermediate would be more polar than either of the starting materials, and polar solvents would solvate it more thoroughly. Typically, a large change of solvent dipole moment, from 2.3 to 39, causes an increase in rate by a factor of only 10. In contrast, stepwise ionic cycloadditions take place with increases in rate of several orders of magnitude in polar solvents. This single piece of evidence rules out stepwise ionic pathways for most Diels-Alder reactions, and the only stepwise mechanism left is that involving a diradical. 

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