1.3- Diphenylisobenzofuran, preparation reaction with

We became interested in this area of chemistry because we wished to prepare some new and highly electrophilic 2//-azirines with potential for use as dienophiles in the Diels-Alder reaction. Vinyl azides appeared to be the most promising precursors. Previously there had been only one report of the cycloaddition of 2H-azirines to a simple diene (cyclopentadiene) although highly activated dienes such as tetraphenylcyclopentadie-none and 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran had been used to intercept some transient 2H-azirines. Our investigations led to the preparation of several new 2ff-azirines. Cycloaddition reactions with these provided access to some novel fused-ring aziridines. An outline of the results is included in Sections 6.2 and 6.3. 

The classical Hunsdiecker reaction was utilized in the laboratory of P.J. Chenier for the preparation of a highly strained cyclopropene, tricyclo[3.2.2.0 " ]non-2(4)-ene. The Diels-Alder cycloaddition was used to prepare the bicyclic 1,2-diacid, which surprisingly failed to undergo the Cristol-Firth modified Hunsdiecker reaction, most likely due to the unreactive nature of the diacid mercuric salt. However, the classical conditions proved to work better to afford the bicyclic 1,2-dibromide in modest yield. Treatment of this dibromide with f-BuLi generated the desired strained cyclopropene, which was trapped with diphenylisobenzofuran (DPIBF). 

Cycloaddition of diphenylisobenzofurans to (101), to sulphenes, to 2-phenyl-3-spirocyclopropylazirines, and to o-benzoquinonedi-imines have been reported. The preparation and trapping of 1-methoxy- and 1-benzyl-isobenzofuran have been described and a high degree of regio-and stereo-specificity is observed in the reactions of a range of 1-substituted isobenzofurans with quinone acetals, for example in the formation of... 

The intramolecular Diels-Alder cycloadditions of 1-aminobenzofurans provide a simple synthesis of benzo[/r]quinolines. A-Acetyl-2-azetine undergoes facile 4-1-2-cycloaddition with cyclopentadiene, 5,5-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrachlorocyclopentadiene, hexachloropentadiene, and diphenylisobenzofuran to produce exclusively endo-cyc o-adducts. The highly strained cyclic alkyne bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-en-5-yne (108), prepared from the heptavalent iodine precursor (107), has been trapped using 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran to yield the adduct (109) (Scheme 41). The reaction of sodium dinitroxytrioxide (110) with 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran gives an initial 4-1-2-cycloadduct (111), which rearranges to the final product (112) (Scheme 42). " The... 

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