1,3-dipoles nitrile ylides

Frontier molecular orbital theory correctly rationalizes the regioselectivity of most 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions (73JA7287). When nitrile ylides are used as 1,3-dipoles, the dipole... 

Tnfluoromethyl-substUuted 1,3-dipoles of the propargyl-allenyl type and trifluoromethyl-substituted nitrilium betaines. Tnfluoromethyl- [164, 765] and bis(trifluoromethy])-substituted [166, 167] nitrile ylides have been generated by different methods and trapped with various dipolarophiles to yield [3+2] [768] and [3+1] cycloadducts [769], respectively... 

Many different types of 1,3-dipoles have been described [Ij however, those most commonly formed using transition metal catalysis are the carbonyl ylides and associated mesoionic species such as isomiinchnones. Additional examples include the thiocar-bonyl, azomethine, oxonium, ammonium, and nitrile ylides, which have also been generated using rhodium(II) catalysis [8]. The mechanism of dipole formation most often involves the interaction of an electrophilic metal carbenoid with a heteroatom lone pair. In some cases, however, dipoles can be generated via the rearrangement of a reactive species, such as another dipole [40], or the thermolysis of a three-membered het-erocycHc ring [41]. 

Like many other 1,3-dipoles (e.g., nitrile ylides, imines, and oxides) (7), thiocarbonyl ylides undergo head-to-head dimerization to give sterically crowded 1,4-dithianes. The first reported example involves the formation of 2,2,3,3-tetraphenyl-l,4-dithiane (18) from thiobenzophenone (5)-methylide (16) (17,28) (cf. Scheme 5.3). Other (5)-methylides are known to form analogous 1,4-dithianes (e.g., thiofluorenone (5)-methylide yields 172) (17). The (5)-methylides of 4,4-dimethyl-2-phenyl-l,3-thiazole-5(4//)-thione (105) and methyl dithiobenzoate (60,104) dimerize to give compounds 173 and 174, respectively. 

The first nitrile ylide stable enough to be isolated (i.e., 1) has been prepared by the carbene/nitrile method (1). For this dipole, the anionic component is stabilized by electron delocalization and the nitrilium component by the steric bulk of the adamantyl group to such an effect that it has a melting point of 230 °C. The X-ray structure showed that the nitrile ylide moiety is close to linear and much like the resonance structure shown below. 

Intramolecular cycloaddition of nitrile ylides to olefinic dipolarophiles linked to the dipole by a three-atom chain leads to pyrazoles fused to five-membered rings. Work on stereoselectivity in such reactions has been carried out using the reactant 266 in which the alkene moiety is linked to the C-terminus via a tether that incorporates an enantiomerically pure (R) stereogenic group (165). Both diastereo-isomers 267 and 268 were isolated and it was found that the reaction showed moderate stereoselectivity favoring 267. 

Extensive work has been carried out on the 1,7-electrocyclization of diene-conjugated nitrile ylides (324) leading to fused heterocyclic systems containing the azepine ring (325). Reactions of this type for all 1,3-dipoles have been reviewed (197,198). 

This chapter deals mainly with the 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions of three 1,3-dipoles azomethine ylides, nitrile oxides, and nitrones. These three have been relatively well investigated, and examples of external reagent-mediated stereocontrolled cycloadditions of other 1,3-dipoles are quite limited. Both nitrile oxides and nitrones are 1,3-dipoles whose cycloaddition reactions with alkene dipolarophiles produce 2-isoxazolines and isoxazolidines, their dihydro derivatives. These two heterocycles have long been used as intermediates in a variety of synthetic applications because their rich functionality. When subjected to reductive cleavage of the N—O bonds of these heterocycles, for example, important building blocks such as p-hydroxy ketones (aldols), a,p-unsaturated ketones, y-amino alcohols, and so on are produced (7-12). Stereocontrolled and/or enantiocontrolled cycloadditions of nitrones are the most widely developed (6,13). Examples of enantioselective Lewis acid catalyzed 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions are summarized by J0rgensen in Chapter 12 of this book, and will not be discussed further here. 

Stoichiometric amount of methyl aluminum p-binaphthoxide as the Lewis acid. This reaction has recently been extended to a catalytic enantioselective version using an enantiopure methylaluminum p-binaphthoxide (Scheme 11.59) (210,211). Although the actual reacting species were not assigned, 5-alkoxyoxazoles behave as nitrile ylide 1,3-dipole equivalents in Lewis acid catalyzed reactions with aldehydes. 

Felhammer and co-workers (68-71) (and references cited therein) has shown that metal coordinated a-deprotonated isocyanides (e.g., 127 and 128) are genuine 1,3-dipoles of the nitrile ylide type that react with various dipolarophiles by [3 + 2]... 

Over the last 25 years both nitrile ylides and nitrile imines have continued to provide fascinating and synthetically useful chemistry. In both cases, the exploitation of [3 + 2]-cycloaddition chemistry with an increasing range of dipolarophiles has continued as a key route to five-membered heterocycles. The major development of new chemistry, however, has been in the extensive exploration of intramolecular reactions both in cycloaddition chemistry and in the electrocycliza-tion of 1,3-dipoles with extended conjugation. Such chemistry harnesses the unique reactivity of 1,3-dipoles in the synthesis of relatively elaborate structures but does require the design and preparation of quite complex reactants containing both the 1,3-dipole precursor and the dipolarophilic component. However, access to this chemistry is becoming much easier via the application of new synthetic procedures... 

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