Diels cycloreversion reactions

Cycloaddition involves the combination of two molecules in such a way that a new ring is formed. The principles of conservation of orbital symmetry also apply to concerted cycloaddition reactions and to the reverse, concerted fragmentation of one molecule into two or more smaller components (cycloreversion). The most important cycloaddition reaction from the point of view of synthesis is the Diels-Alder reaction. This reaction has been the object of extensive theoretical and mechanistic study, as well as synthetic application. The Diels-Alder reaction is the addition of an alkene to a diene to form a cyclohexene. It is called a [47t + 27c]-cycloaddition reaction because four tc electrons from the diene and the two n electrons from the alkene (which is called the dienophile) are directly involved in the bonding change. For most systems, the reactivity pattern, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity are consistent with describing the reaction as a concerted process. In particular, the reaction is a stereospecific syn (suprafacial) addition with respect to both the alkene and the diene. This stereospecificity has been demonstrated with many substituted dienes and alkenes and also holds for the simplest possible example of the reaction, that of ethylene with butadiene ... 

Interestingly, in the inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder reactions of oxepin with various enophiles such as cyclopentadienones and tetrazines the oxepin form, rather than the benzene oxide, undergoes the cycloaddition.234 236 Usually, the central C-C double bond acts as dienophile. Oxepin reacts with 2,5-dimethyl-3,4-diphenylcyclopenta-2,4-dienone to give the cycloadduct 6 across the 4,5-C-C double bond of the heterocycle.234 The adduct resists thermal carbon monoxide elimination but undergoes cycloreversion to oxepin and the cyclopenta-dienone.234... 

The Diels Alder reaction is reversible and the direction of cycloaddition is favored because two n bonds are replaced by two cr-bonds. The cycloreversion occurs when the diene and/or dienophile are particularly stable molecules (i.e. 

The retro Diels-Alder reaction usually requires high temperatures in order to surmount the high activation barrier of the cycloreversion. Moreover, the strategy of retro Diels-Alder reaction is used in organic synthesis to mask a diene fragment or to protect a double bond [47]. Some examples are illustrated in Scheme 1.11. 

The retro Diels-Alder reaction is strongly accelerated when an oxide anion substituent is incorporated at positions 1 and 2 of the six-membered ring which has to be cycloreversed, namely at one terminus carbon of the original diene or at one sp carbon of the dienophile [51] (Equation 1.22). 

The first example of an oxide-anion accelerated retro Diels Alder reaction was reported by Papies and Grimme [52]. The adduct 19 (Equation 1.23) treated with tetra-w-butylammonium fluoride (TBAF) in THE at room temperature is immediately converted into 20, in contrast to the parent 21 (Equation 1.24) which undergoes cycloreversion into 22 at 100 °C. The dramatic oxide-anion acceleration (> 10 ) was ascribed to the loss of basicity of about 8pK, units in the transformation of alcoholate ion of precursor 19... 

Because of their low reactivity, a Diels-Alder reaction of 2-pyrones usually requires such a high temperature that the initial bicyclic lactone adducts often undergo cycloreversion [30,33] with loss of CO2. In some cases this limitation has been overcome by carrying out the reaction imder high pressure conditions. Posner and coworkers have shown [34-36] that the presence of a tolylthio group or a bromine atom at the 3- or 5-position increases the reactivity of 2-pyrones. 3-Bromo-2-pyrone (35) (Scheme 2.15), as well as its regioisomer 5-bromo (36)... 

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]. 

Scheme 9.17. Domino amide-formation/hetero-Diels-Alder reaction/Michael-cycloreversion producing pyrrolopyridines 9-86.

Furthermore, oxazoles of type 9-82 bearing a secondary amino functionality can be converted into pyrrolo[3,4-b]pyridines 9-86 by reaction with appropriate acid chlorides 9-83 in a triple domino process consisting of amide formation/hetero Diels-Alder reaction and retro-Michael cycloreversion via 9-84 and 9-85 (Scheme 9.17). The pyrrolo[3,4-fc]pyridines can be obtained in even higher yields when the whole sequence is carried out as a four-component synthesis in toluene. Here, 1.5 equiv. NH4C1 must be added for the formation of the now intermediate oxazoles [56b]. 

A somewhat milder route which appears to be devoid of the complications of isomerization is the retro-Diels-Alder reaction of bicyclo [2.2.2] octadienes, frequently substituted with aryl groups (5,30,53,65), [Eq. (2)], and recently Wiberg (88,90) described a very mild route involving both [2 + 2] and [2 + 4] cycloreversions which occur at 60°C to generate Me2Si=C(SiMe3)2. However, the generality of this latter source of silenes has not been established yet [Eq. (3)]. 

The scope of the microwave technique in the preparation of fullerene derivatives was determined in the well known Diels-Alder reaction of C6o with anthracene (1) [71], which has been reported to occur under thermal conditions (13% [71a], reflux, toluene, three days 25% [71b], reflux, benzene, 12 h) (Scheme 9.22). In addition to 76, multiply-substituted adducts that undergo cycloreversion to the starting materials were formed. 

Retro-Diels-Alder reactions can be used to regenerate dienes or alkenes from Diels-Alder protected cyclohexene derivatives under pyrolytic conditions144. Most of the synthetic utility of this reaction comes from releasing the alkene by diene-deprotection. However, tetralin undergoes cycloreversion via the retro-Diels-Alder pathway to generate o-quinodimethane under laser photolysis (equation 89)145. A precursor of lysergic acid has been obtained by deprotection of the conjugated double bond and intramolecular Diels Alder reaction (equation 90)146. 

On heating, dihydrooxazines (548) undergo the known [4 +2]-cycloreversion to give the previously unknown conjugated en-imines CH2=C(C02Me)CH=N—E as intermediates. The latter can be trapped in a Diels—Alder reaction at the terminal or internal electron-rich double bond. 

In the last 5 years, catalytic antibodies have been generated for several reaction types, including the various types of hydrolysis, transesterification, amide bond formation, /3-elimination, cycloreversion, transacylation, redox reactions, E-Z isomerization, epoxidation, and Diels-Alder reactions. For more information on these and other recent developments, such as semi-synthetic antibodies, site-directed mutagenesis, and the bait-and-switch strategy, the reader should consult the appropriate authorities (Schultz, 1988, 1989a,b Benkovic et al., 1990 Janda et al., 1990, 1991 Janjic and Tramontano, 1990 Lerner et al., 1991). 

In addition to the reaction of vinylcarbene complexes with alkynes, further synthetic procedures have been developed in which Fischer-type carbene complexes are used for the preparation of benzenes. Most of these transformations are likely to be mechanistically related to the Dbtz benzannulation reaction, and can be rationalized as sequences of alkyne-insertions, CO-insertions, and electrocycli-zations. A selection of examples is given in Table 2.18. Entry 4 in Table 2.18 is an example of the Diels-Alder reaction (with inverse electron demand) of an enamine with a pyran-2-ylidene complex (see also Section 2.2.7 and Figure 2.36). In this example the adduct initially formed eliminates both chromium hexacarbonyl ([4 -I- 2] cycloreversion) and pyrrolidine to yield a substituted benzene. 

An even more pronounced retro-Diels-Alder reaction occurs by using 1,3-di-phenylisobenzofuran (DPIF), 9-methylanthracene or 9,10-dimethylanthracene as dienes [8, 10-12]. The monoadduct of DPIF cannot be isolated from the reaction mixture, while the monoadduct of the 9-methyl- or 9,10-dimethyl- derivatives of anthracene can be isolated at temperatures lower than room temperature [10]. Both anthracene derivatives decompose at room temperature, the adduct with one methyl group within hours, the adduct with two methyl groups within minutes. For DPIF and the anthracene compounds the retro-Diels-Alder reaction seems to be facilitated by steric repulsion due to the bulky groups. However, as shown by Wudl and coworkers [13], the cycloadduct of with isobenzofuran (Scheme 4.2), which was generated in situ from l,4-dihydro-l,4-epoxy-3-phenylisoquinoline, is stable in the solid state as well as in solution and shows no tendency to undergo cycloreversion. 

These examples already prove that the potential of such reactions for the synthesis of stable fuUerene derivatives is restricted due to the facile cycloreversion to the starting materials. Nevertheless, cycloreversion can also be useful. Reversibility of dimefhylanthracene addition was utilized for the selective synthesis of Ti -symme-trical hexakisadducts (see Chapter 10) [12]. In another example, a dendritic polyamidoamine-addend was reversibly attached to via an anthracene anchor (Figure 4.1) [14, 15]. The dendrofullerene, which is soluble in polar solvents, can be obtained in 70% yield and the retro-Diels-Alder reaction at 45 °C proceeds with a conversion rate of more than 90%. 

Partially hydrogenated pyrrolopyridines have been prepared through a sequence that includes an alkynyl-substituted pyrimidine ring. An initial intramolecular inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction is followed by a cycloreversion to form a dihydropyrrolopyridine. The pyrimidine ring is generated in four steps starting with an alkynyl carboxylic acid (Scheme 7) <2004JOC9215>. 

An interesting one-pot, five-component domino process using an intermolecular Diels-Alder reaction of furans with AT-phenylmaleimide as its final step has been used to construct the central core of indolo[2,3- ]carbazoles (Equation 86) <2002AGE4291>. Thus, aminooxazoles produced from an Ugi three-component reaction undergo acylation/intramolecular Diels-Alder/retro-Diels-Alder cycloreversion with pentafluorophenyl arylprop-2-ynoates to give furan derivatives. Subsequent Diels-Alder cycloaddition at elevated temperatures with A -phenylmaleimide produces carbazoles in good yields (Table 5). 

Cycloretersion.6 The reverse Diels-Alder reaction of 1 proceeds at 60° with a half-life of 236 minutes. Cycloreversion of the parent diesler is even slower. 

The Diels-Alder Reaction can be used in a number of creative ways. For example, extremely reactive dienes can be generated by thermal cycloreversion reactions ... 

In solution, lepidopterene 113 (L) is in temperature dependent equilibrium with its cycloreversion product 114 (A). The equilibrium ratio [L]/[A] at room temperature in toluene is 630, and the regeneration of L from A proceeds by an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction which is associated with an activation energy of 17kcal/mol [131]. Monosubstituted lepidopterenes 116 can give rise to two different cycloreversion products, 115 (A-l) and 117 (A-2). When R is methyl, formyl, benzoyl, and cyano, the cycloreversion involves mainly the A-l isomer, and the [L]/[A] equilibrium ratios at 25°C in toluene are 37,000, 1500, 33, and 22, respectively [73]. Presumably, the formation of the A-l isomer is favored for steric reasons over that of A-2. 

What makes photoexcited lepidopterene and its derivatives undergo adiabatic cycloreversion with so high quantum efficiency The answer to this question must be linked with fact that the formation of lepidopterene from its cycloreversion product A is a highly efficient ground state process, viz. an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction, which is symmetry-allowed by Woodward-Hoffmann rules. By the same token, the excited state 4jm-2ji cycloreversion of lepidopterene L is a symmetry-forbidden process. Thus, it is... 

Diels-Alder reactions like the one illustrated opposite are cycloadditions mobilising six electrons. The dimerization of cyclopentadiene 1.1 is another Diels-Alder reaction, but also illustrates its inherent reversibility—cracking the dimer 1.2 on heating is called a retro-cycloaddition or a cycloreversion. 

Thermal cycloreversion of the adducts can be accomplished at a convenient rate when heated in toluene under reflux. If a new diene is present in the reaction mixture, the thioaldehyde thus generated in the retro-Diels-Alder reaction may give a new adduct. Therefore, adducts 81 and 82 act as thioaldehyde or thioketone transfer reagents. These adducts dissociate reversibly on heating, thus ensuring that the concentration of the labile species remains very low. For this reason, polymerization is not a serious problem especially in the case of thioaldehydes224. The transient thiocarbonyl compounds can be trapped not only by dienes but also by 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions332 (equation 85). 

Cycloalkenones.3 Cycloalkenones can be prepared by a retro Diels-Alder reaction of norbornenes of type 1, conducted at 25-70° in the presence of CH3A1C12 (1 equiv.) and a reactive dienophile, usually maleic anhydride or fumaronitrile. The [4 + 2]cycloreversion was used to prepare 12-oxophytodienoic acid (4), which epi-merizes at Cu to the trans-isomer on brief exposure to acid. The precursor nor-bornene 3 was prepared from the known dienone 2 as shown. Treatment of 3 at room... 

Selenoacylamidines also take part in Diels-Alder reactions yielding 4W-selenopyrans through a cycloaddition-cycloreversion-cycloaddition sequence (95TL237). 5,6-Dihydro-27/-selenopyrans have also been obtained by hetero-Diels-Alder protocol (95JA10922). 

A detailed investigation of the reaction of protoporphyrin 80b with TONE in chloroform demonstrated the kinetically controlled formation of [2 + 2]-adducts (83), which either rearranged to [4 + 2]-adducts (84) or lost TCNE in a cycloreversion. A dipolar intermediate was assumed for these reactions (Scheme 4). Depending on reaction conditions, [2 + 2]- (85), [4 + 2]- (82, 86c,d), and mixed-type (86a,c) adducts were obtained (80JOC5196). Regio-and stereospecificity of the Diels-Alder reaction of 80b with unsymmetric acetylenes has been studied (86JOC1094). 

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