Electrophile-initiated ring transformation

C. Electrophile-initiated Ring Transformations of Electrophilic Cyclopropanes 549... 

In the course of mechanistic studies it was established that aniline does not react with the cyclopropenones (153 and 154) even under reflux conditions. It was therefore assumed that the formation of (158) involves initial nucleophilic attack by the aminopyridine ring nitrogen on the electrophilic cyclopropenone ring. In this way 155 is formed, which is then transformed via the reactive intermediates (156, 157, and/or 161) to the prodticts. Kascheres et al. noted that the formation of 157 is formally a stereospecific trans addition of the 2-aminopyridines to the double bond of the cyclopropenone (153). Such sterospecificity has been observed in kinetically controlled Michael additions. 

Quite often in the ring-opening polymerization, the polymer is only the kinetic product and later is transformed to thermodynamically stable cycles. The cationic polymerization of ethylene oxide leads to a mixture of poly(ethylene oxide) and 1,4-dioxane. In the presence of a cationic initiator poly(ethylene oxide) can be almost quantitatively transformed to this cyclic dimer. On the other hand, anionic polymerization is not accompanied by cyclization due to the lower affinity of the alkoxide anion towards linear ethers only strained (and more electrophilic) monomers can react with the anion. 

Synthetic use can be made of the potent electrophilic properties of ADC compounds by transforming the initial adducts into heterocyclic products. For example, reaction of DEAZD with enamine 92 gives the substitution product 93 in quantitative yield. Further treatment of this initial adduct with acid, followed by base hydrolysis leads to benzoxazol-2-ones. The dimethyl substituted enamine (92, R = Me) gives the rare, but isolable 6//-benzoxazol-2-one ring system (Scheme 13).147... 

Carbocation formation is initiated by epoxide ring opening in squalene oxide, giving a tertiary carbocation, and this is transformed into the four-ring system of the protosteryl cation by a series of electrophilic addition reactions (see Box 8.3). 

The formation of ring systems by the anionic cyclization of olefinic alkyl, aryl and vinyl-lithiums is an interesting synthetic transformation that provides a regiospecific and highly stereoselective route to five-membered carbocycles and heterocycles99. Most importantly, it is possible to functionalize the initially formed cyclization product by a tandem reaction with electrophiles, a reaction that is not generally possible in the case of radical cyclizations. 

The observation that carbenoids are capable of electrophilic attack at the 3-position of A -BOC-pyrrole may shed light on other carbenoid reactions that have stood out as rather unusual transformations. For example, a very useful [3- -2]-annulation between diazodimedone 1071 and ethyl 177-pyrrole-l-carboxylate leading to the tricyclic product 1072 was discovered (Scheme 208) <1995JOC2112>. It was proposed that the reactions occurred through initial cyclopropanation followed by ring opening of the pyrrolocyclopropane 1073 to a zwitterionic intermediate 1074. 

Cycloaddition reactions of 18-electron transition metal ti -allyl complexes with unsaturated electrophiles to form five-membered rings have been extensively investigated. These transformations constituted a family of metal-assisted cycloaddition reactions in which the metal functions as an electron-donor center. These are typically two-step processes that involve the initial formation of a dipolar metal r) -alkene intermediate (2) and subsequent internal cyclization (equation 2). The most extensively investigated application of this methodology has been with dicarbonyl-ii -cyclopentadienyliron (Fp) complexes from the laboratory of Rosenblum. These (ri -allyl)Fp complexes are available either by metallation of allyl halides or tosylates with a Fp anion, or by deprotonation of (alkene)Fp cations. ... 

Reactions initiated by electrophilic or oxidative attack at the ring sulfur atom (Scheme 4) are considered in the present review only if intermediates 19, such as 5-oxides or 5-dioxides, are not isolated but are transformed to the sulfur-free ring contraction product without prior isolation. Thus, sulfur dioxide extrusion from such isolated 5,5-dioxides as thietane 5,5-dioxide 21 or the Ramberg-BScklund reaction of a-halosulfonyl compounds (e.g., of 23) (770R1) (Scheme 5) are not included (for reviews on SO2 extrusions from heterocycles, see 90MI1 92MI1). 

Another Wacker-type oxidation is the oxidative cyclization reaction, which is the intramolecular union of two arenes with formal loss of H2 promoted by a Pd(II) species [typically Pd(OAc)2].33-36 In an early example of this transformation, treatment of diphenylamines 45 with Pd(OAc)2 in acetic acid yielded carbazoles 46.37 The role of acetic acid in such oxidative cyclization processes is to protonate one of the acetate ligands, which affords a more electrophilic cationic Pd(II) species, thereby promoting the initial electrophilic palladation of the aromatic ring. 

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