In the Diels-Alder reaction

CH = CH — CH = CH — are said to have conjugated double bonds and react somewhat differently from the other diolefins. For instance, bromine or hydrogen is often added so that a product of the type -CHBr-CH=CH-CHBr- is formed. Also, these hydrocarbons participate in the Diels-Alder reaction see diene reactions). They show a tendency to form rubber-like polymers. Hydrocarbons not falling into these two classes are said to have isolated double... 

In the Diels-Alder reaction (in older literature referred to as the diene synthesis ) a six-membered ring is fonned through fusion of a four-tt component, usually a diene and a two-7C component, which is commonly referred to as the dienophile (Scheme 1.1). 

Another form of selectivity can arise when substitirted dienes and dienophiles are employed in the Diels-Alder reaction. Two different cycloadducts denoted as endo and exo can then be formed (Figure 1.2). 

Breslow immediately grasped the significance of his observation. He interpreted this discovery in terms of a hydrophobic effect Since in the Diels-Alder reaction. .. the transition state. .. brings together two nonpolar groups, one might expect that in water this reaction could be accelerated by hydrophobic interactions ". ... 

Interestingly, G jrey et al.", employing a similar tryptophan-derived catalyst (3.4), observed a 99% enantiomeric excess (ee) in the Diels-Alder reaction of 2-bromoacrolein with cyclopentadiene... 

The balance between aromatic and aUphatic reactivity is affected by the type of substituents on the ring. Furan functions as a diene in the Diels-Alder reaction. With maleic anhydride, furan readily forms 7-oxabicyclo [2.2.1]hept-5-ene-2,3-dicarboxyhc anhydride in excellent yield [5426-09-5] (4). 

Vinylboranes are interesting dienophiles in the Diels-Alder reaction. Alkenylboronic esters show moderate reactivity and give mixtures of exo and endo adducts with cyclopentadiene and 1,3-cyclohexadiene (441). Dichloroalkenylboranes are more reactive and dialkylalkenylboranes react even at room temperature (442—444). Dialkylalkenylboranes are omniphilic dienophiles insensitive to diene substitution (444). In situ formation of vinyl-boranes by transmetaHation of bromodialkylboranes with vinyl tri alkyl tin compounds makes possible a one-pot reaction, avoiding isolation of the intermediate vinylboranes (443). Other cycloadditions of alkenyl- and alkynylboranes are known (445). 

Dicyanoacetylene, 2-hiitynedinitri1e, is obtained from dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate by ammonolysis to the diamide, which is dehydrated with phosphoms pentoxide (44). It bums in oxygen to give a flame with a temperature of 5260 K, the hottest flame temperature known (45). Alcohols and amines add readily to its acetylenic bond (46). It is a powerhil dienophile in the Diels-Alder reaction it adds to many dienes at room temperature, and at 180°C actually adds 1,4- to benzene to give the bicyclo adduct (7) [18341 -68-9] C QHgN2 (47). 

Oxidation of thiophene with peracid under carefully controlled conditions gives a mixture of thiophene sulfoxide and 2-hydroxythiophene sulfoxide. These compounds are trapped by addition to benzoquinone to give ultimately naphthoquinone (225) and its 5-hydroxy derivative (226) (76ACS(B)353). The further oxidation of the sulfoxide yields the sulfone, which may function as a diene or dienophile in the Diels-Alder reaction (Scheme 88). An azulene synthesis involves the addition of 6-(A,A-dimethylamino)fulvene (227) to a thiophene sulfone (77TL639, 77JA4199). 

Just as in the Diels-Alder reaction, 1,4-dipolar cycloadditions lead to six-membered rings. Their principal use in five-membered heterocycles is for ring annulations giving [5,6] ring-fused systems. 

Table 11.3 Relative Reactivity toward Cyclopentadiene in the Diels-Alder Reaction...

From methoxybutenone and chlorotiimethylsilane, l-methoxy-3-trimethylsily-loxybuta-1,3-diene (the Danishevsky diene) (326), a synthon in the Diels-Alder reactions, is obtained (EtsN, 20 h, yield 76%) (79JPP7948765 86MI1). 

The borane catalyst 4 is also effective in the Diels-Alder reaction of furan (Scheme 1.11). In the presence of a catalytic amount of this reagent a-bromoacro-lein or a-chloroacrolein reacts with furan to give the cycloadduct in very good chemical yield with high optical purity [6d]. 

Although furan is usually a poor diene in the Diels-Alder reaction, the chiral copper reagent 24b promotes its asymmetric addition to acryloyloxazolidinone to afford the 7-oxabicyclo[2.2.1]hept-2-ene derivative in high optical purity (Scheme 1.40). Because a retro-Diels-Alder reaction occurs above -20 °C, the reaction must be performed at low temperature (-78 °C) to obtain a high optical yield. The bicy-... 

Table 1.21 Effect of metal salt on enantioselectivity in the Diels-Alder reaction of cyclopentadiene and acryloyloxazolidinone [22 ...

The cationic aqua complexes prepared from traws-chelating tridentate ligand, R,R-DBFOX/Ph, and various transition metal(II) perchlorates induce absolute enantio-selectivity in the Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with 3-alkenoyl-2-oxazoli-dinone dienophiles. Unlike other bisoxazoline type complex catalysts [38, 43-54], the J ,J -DBFOX/Ph complex of Ni(C104)2-6H20, which has an octahedral structure with three aqua ligands, is isolable and can be stored in air for months without loss of catalytic activity. Iron(II), cobalt(II), copper(II), and zinc(II) complexes are similarly active. 

These three complexes are equally active in the Diels-Alder reaction. 

Although the aqua nickel(II) complex A was confirmed to be the active catalyst in the Diels-Alder reaction, no information was available about the structure of complex catalyst in solution because of the paramagnetic character of the nickel(II) ion. Either isolation or characterization of the substrate complex, formed by the further complexation of 3-acryloyl-2-oxazolidinone on to the l ,J -DBFOX/ Ph-Ni(C104)2 complex catalyst, was unsuccessful. One possible solution to this problem could be the NMR study by use of the J ,J -DBFOX/Ph-zinc(II) complex (G and H, Scheme 7.9) [57]. 

Absolute configurations of the isoxazolidines obtained in the nitrone cydoaddition reactions described in Schemes 7.21 and 7.22 were determined to be 3S,41 ,5S structure by comparison of the optical rotations as well as retention times in a chiral HPLC analysis with those of the authentic samples. Selection of the si face at C/ position of 3-crotonoyl-2-oxazolidinone in nitrone cydoadditions was the same as that observed in the Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with 3-croto-noyl-2-oxazolidinone in the presence of the J ,J -DBF0X/Ph-Ni(C104)2-3H20 complex (Scheme 7.7), and this indicates that the s-cis conformation of the dipolaro-phile has participated in the reaction. 

Phosphonium salts containing a benzyl group may be converted into ylides by the use of only moderately strong bases such as sodium ethoxide. The preparation of benzyli-dene derivatives of aldehydes and ketones is therefore easily done. The procedure below is for the preparation of a substituted butadiene, which in turn is ideally suited for use in the Diels-Alder reaction (see Chapter 8, Section I). 

Recently, enhanced endo selectivity has been reported in the Diels-Alder reaction of fE -l-acetoxybuta-l,3-dienes with methyl fi-nitroacrylate The selectivity is compared with that of the reaction using l-methoxybuta-l,3-dienes and 1-trimethylsilyloxybuta-1,3-di-enes The degree of electron richness of a diene is an important consideration in endo eKO selectivity issues In particular, electron-rich dienes favor the formation of fixc-nitrocycload-ducts fEq 8 9 ... 

Eee has used chloroaluminate(III) ionic liquids in the Diels-Alder reaction [36]. The endo. exo ratio rose from 5.25 to 19 on changing the composition of the ionic liquid from X(A1C13) = 0.48 to X(A1C13) = 0.51 (Scheme 5.1-16). The reaction works well, giving up to 95 % yield, but the moisture-sensitivity of these systems is a major disadvantage, the products being recovered by quenching the ionic liquid in water. 

Diels-Alder reactions Neutral ionic liquids have been found to be excellent solvents for the Diels-Alder reaction. The first example of a Diels-Alder reaction in an ionic liquid was the reaction of methyl acrylate with cyclopentadiene in [EtNH3][N03] [40], in which significant rate enhancement was observed. Howarth et al. investigated the role of chiral imidazolium chloride and trifluoroacetate salts (dissolved in dichloromethane) in the Diels-Alder reactions between cyclopentadiene and either crotonaldehyde or methacroline [41]. It should be noted that this paper describes one of the first examples of a chiral cationic ionic liquid being used in synthesis (Scheme 5.1-17). The enantioselectivity was found to be < 5 % in this reaction for both the endo (10 %) and the exo (90 %) isomers. 

How can you account for the fact that ct5-l,3-pentadiene is much less reactive than fra/rs-l,3-pentadiene in the Diels-Alder reaction ... 

Benzoquinone is an excellent dienophile in the Diels-Alder reaction. What product would you expect from reaction of benzoquinone with 1 equivalent of 1,3-butadiene Prom reaction with 2 equivalents of 1,3-butadiene ... 

Ethyl H-, 2-diazepine-l-carboxylate functions as a 2 -component in the Diels-Alder reaction with tetrachloro-l,2-benzoquinone to give a mixture of the regioisomers 20 and 21.100... 

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