Furans from allenes

Another approach to tetrasubstituted furans via allenes also appeared <03TL3263>. In this reaction, cumulenes were produced as an intermediate from alkynyl epoxides and Smij and the allyl group was incorporated regioselectively. 

Carbonyl compounds also react with allenes and, in fact, the first example of a gold-catalyzed addition of a nucleophile to allenes was the formation of furans from allenones. " The reaction was applied by Gevorgyan to the synthesis of substituted furans and in the case of bromide-substituted allenes halide migration was observed. Similar additions of... 

Dimethylcyclopropanone remains in equilibrium with zwitterionic oxyallyl cation 92 in situ and undergoes D-A reaction with furan. Similarly, allene oxide 92a generated from silyl epoxide gives cyclopropanone and oxyallyl cation, which is trapped as furan adduct [79]. 

Other methods were also used for the synthesis of trifluoromethylfurans. Thus, flash vacuum thermolysis of silyl enol ether of 1,3-diketone 148 at 800 °C afforded furan 69 (70 %) via intermediate allenic ketone 149 [110], Another synthesis of trifluoromethylated furan from 1,3-diketone comprised reaction of diazomethane with 2-(trifluoroacetyl)dimedone 150. This approach produced dihydrofuran 152 in a mixture with methylated product 151. Compound 151 underwent aromatiza-tion into 153 under heating withp-toluenesulfonic acid [111]. 

The irradiation of 2-trimethylsilylfuran (29) gave the corresponding ring-opening product 30 in 68% yield (Scheme 12) (83JA6316). Other trimethylsilyl derivatives showed the same behavior (Scheme 12). The allene 32, obtained starting from the furan 31, can be thermally converted into 2,4-ditrimethylsilylfuran (33). 

As mentioned in the Introduction, this chapter focuses on reactions that deliver allenes as the product. The principles discussed in Sections 1.2.1-1.2.9, of course, also allow the synthesis of allenes as reactive intermediates, which due to other functional groups that are present, undergo further reactions in situ. The most important examples here are base-catalyzed isomerizations to furans [347, 348] ring transfer reactions of propargylic ethers or amines [216, 349-371] and enyneallene cycliza-tion reactions starting from propargylic sulfones [372-375] and related substrates [376, 377]. Details are discussed, for example, in Chapters 16 and 20. 

The positional selectivity on formation of the cydoadducts from 221 is less pronounced than that of the isobenzene 162, but it is the conjugated double of the allene moiety as well that predominantly undergoes the reaction. As demonstrated by the thermolysis of several products, these are formed from 221 under kinetic control. For example, on heating, the styrene adduct 240 and the furan adduct 231 rearranged virtually completely to 241 and 232, which are formally the cycloadducts to the non-conjugated double bond of the allene subunit of 221 [92, 137]. The cause of the selectivity may be the spin-density distribution in the phenylallyl radical entity of the diradical intermediates. 

Attempts to liberate l-methyl-l-aza-2,3-cyclohexadiene (329) from 3-bromo-l-methyl-l,2,5,6-tetrahydropyridine (326) by KOtBu in the presence of [18]crown-6 and furan or styrene did not lead to products that could have been ascribed to the intermediacy of 329 (Scheme 6.70) [156], Even if there is no doubt as to the allene nature of 329 on the basis of the calculations on the isopyridine 179 and 3d2-lH-quinoline (257), it is conceivable that the zwitterion 329-Za is only a few kcal mol-1 less stable than 329. This relationship could foster the reactivity of 329 towards the tert-butoxide ion to an extent that cycloadditions to activated alkenes would be too slow to compete. On the other hand, the ultimate product of the trapping of 329 by KOtBu could have been an N,0-acetal or a vinylogous N,0-acetal, which might not have survived the workup (see, for example, the sensitivity of the N,0-acetal 262 [14], Scheme 6.57). 

By chance, the existence of the borane complex 330 of 329 was discovered. The liberation of 330 occurred with the best efficiency with sodium bis(trimethylsilyl)-amide from the borane complex 327 of 326. When styrene or furan was used as the solvent, three diastereomeric [2 + 2]-cycloadducts 328 and [4 + 2]-cycloadducts 331, respectively, were obtained in 30and 20% yield (Scheme 6.70) [156]. With no lone pair on the nitrogen atom, 330 cannot be polarized towards a zwitterionic structure, which is why its allene subunit, apart from the inductive effect of the nitrogen atom, resembles that of 1,2-cydohexadiene (6) and hence undergoes cycloaddition with activated alkenes. It is noted that the carbacephalosporin derivative 323 (Scheme 6.69) also does not have a lone pair on the nitrogen atom next to the allene system because of the amide resonance. 

Scheme 6.92 Generation of the cephalosporin-derived cyclic allene 450 from the cephalosporin / -S-oxide triflate 449 and trapping of450 by (Z)-/J-deuterostyrene, furan, 2-acetylfuran, furan-3-carboxylic acid dimethylamide, N-tert-butoxycarbonylpyrrole, pyrrole and N-methylpyrrole.

Hence the positional selectivity is different from that of the furan additions to 417 (Scheme 6.90). Assuming diradical intermediates for these reactions [9], the different types of products are not caused by the nature of the allene double bonds of 417 and 450 but by the properties of the allyl radical subunits in the six-membered rings of the intermediates. Also N-tert-butoxycarbonylpyrrole intercepted 450 in a [4 + 2]-cycloaddition and brought about 455 in 29% yield. Pyrrole itself and N-methylpyr-role furnished their substituted derivatives of type 456 in 69 and 79% yield [155, 171b]. Possibly, these processes are electrophilic aromatic substitutions with 450 acting as electrophile, as has been suggested for the conversion of 417 into 442 by pyrrole (Scheme 6.90). 

Being a diastereomer of 450 with respect to the configuration of the sulfur atom, 458 was liberated from the triflate 457 by ethyl diisopropylamine and trapped by furan (Scheme 6.93). The resulting [4+ 2]-cycloadduct 459 was isolated in 62% yield and is a diastereomer of 451 [155, 171b], Typical for virtually all furan adducts of six-membered cyclic allenes, 451 and 459 display the mdo-configuration with respect to the 7-oxanorbornene skeleton. 

Scheme 6.93 Generation ofthe cephalosporin-derived cyclic allene 458 from the cephalosporin a-S-oxide triflate 457 and trapping of 458 by furan.

The analogous transformation of 125, also realized by flash vacuum pyrolysis, gave rise to allenic oximes 126 [165], which are not directly accessible by the classical route starting from allenyl ketones and hydroxylamine (see Section 7.3.2) [122], Because compounds 125 are prepared from allenyl ketones and furan by [4 + 2]-cycloaddition followed by treatment with hydroxylamine, the retro-Diels-Alder reaction 125 —> 126 is in principle the removal of a protecting group (see also Scheme 7.46). 

Both uncatalyzed and catalyzed [4+2]-cycloaddition reactions of furans with the allenic esters have been reported (Table 12.6) [93]. The allene adds from the less hindered C1-C2 Jt-face. The unfavorable steric interaction between the a-hydrogen atom of the furan and the methyl group at C4 of the allene is responsible for this selectivity. The more reactive 2-methylfuran adds to the allenic ester also in a regio-selective manner. The C2 carbon atom of 2-methylfuran was exclusively attached to the Cl carbon atom of the allenic ester, providing a mixture of endo- and exoadducts. 

The chiral furan 120, prepared from 119, underwent a Diels-Alder reaction with racemic 110b (4equiv.) at -100 °C. Kinetic resolution of the allenic diester efficiently occurred to afford the oxabicydic enamine adduct 121 stereoselectively [100], The adduct was transformed to (+)-cydophellitol. 

The formation of 2 furane rings was achieved in one transformation by Ma and co-workers. Allenoic acids and allenyl ketons were reacted in the presence of a palladium catalyst to give the unsymmetrical bifuryl product, arising from the cyclization of both allene derivatives mediated by the same palladium centre followed by their coupling (3.73.) 91... 

The development of intramolecular Diels-Alder (IMDA) reactions for the synthesis of natural products (80CR63) and the facility with which substituted furans can be assembled have been reviewed 840R(32)1, 86CRV795, 87CSR187, 90SL186). Thus, IMDA product from the propargyl sulfone shown in Scheme 43 proceeds via the allene and was converted subsequently into the benzenoid sulfone under base catalysis (92CC735). 

From a mechanistic perspective, the reaction is similar to those described above. Silver-catalyzed cyclization of the ketone to the allene gave a cyclic oxonium intermediate. A [1,2]- or [1,5]-alkyl shift modified the sigma skeleton leading to an alkylsilver intermediate, which on elimination gave a trisubstituted furan. 

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