Intermolecular reactions diene dimerization

While the intermolecular reactions of butadiene and related methyl or simple alkyl-substituted dienes have been investigated extensively, relatively few examples of the Pd-catalyzed linear dimerization of higher dienes have been reported. Brun and co-work-ers in an isolated paper reported that, under palladium catalysis, reaction of methyl 2,4-pentadienoate (Scheme 9, 28) affords the linear dimer 29 in high yield (95%). Two aspects of this reaction are of particular interest, (i) The dimerization yields essentially only the tail-to-tail dimer 29, not the head-to-tail or head-to-head isomers (30 or 31, respectively). This is in contrast to the behavior of alkyl-substituted dienes under similar conditions vide infra), (ii) Although no details are given, the authors imply that 29 is... 

In addition to dimerizations, 2-pyridones undergo [4-f4]-photocycloadditions with other aromatics and with 1,3-dienes (Schemes 9 and 10). Triazolopyridine 71 will photodimerize, but when mixed with pyridone 18 yields significant amounts of cross product 72. Intermolecular reactions of pyridones with... 

Intermolecular photocycloadditions of alkenes can be carried out by photosensitization with mercury or directly with short-wavelength light.179 Relatively little preparative use has been made of this reaction for simple alkenes. Dienes can be photosensitized using benzophenone, butane-2,3-dione, and acetophenone.180 The photodimerization of derivatives of cinnamic acid was among the earliest photochemical reactions to be studied.181 Good yields of dimers are obtained when irradiation is carried out in the crystalline state. In solution, cis-trans isomerization is the dominant reaction. 

The same type of bis-functionalization has been reported for the palladium-catalyzed borylstannylative carbocy-cyclization of 1,6-, 1,5-, 1,7-diynes, bis-propargylamine, and ether.377 It should be noted that even 1,2-dialkylidene cyclobutane can be obtained in reasonable yield. Ito has proposed the related silaborative reaction involving nickel(O) catalysis.378 This reaction has been performed in an intra- and intermolecular fashion. The intramolecular reaction allows the formation of cyclic dienes and the intermolecular process proceeds through a dimerization of alkynes to give acyclic dienes. 

The second example is an intermolecular crystal-state reaction. Cross-conjugated 1,5-disubstituted 1,4-dien-3-ones in solution undergo both cis-trans photoisomerization and photodimerization, yielding complex mixtures of products, including die all-trans-substituted cyclobutane 2 in the case of 1,5-diphenyl-1,4-pentadien-3-one. In contrast, dienones such as 3a in whose crystals adjacent molecules lie parallel and strongly overlapped react in the solid to give 3b as the sole photoproduct. This isomerically pure tricyclic diketone results, formally, from an eight-center dimerization. It is not formed in the reaction in solution, and could be prepared by other methods only with considerable difficulty (4). 

In this article, the features and mechanism of the crystal-to-crystal reactions of 1,3-diene compounds are described on the basis of the molecular packing structure and intermolecular interactions in the crystals for starting materials and products. The dimerization and isomerization of unsaturated compounds as well as addition polymerization via a chain reaction mechanism are ideal sohd-state reactions, because they produce no leaving group during the reac-... 

The dimerization of thioformylketene was investigated by B3LYP and G3MP2B3 methods. The 4 + 4-pathway has the lowest energy barrier and calculations suggest that the reaction is pseudopericyclic.231 The stereospecific intramolecular 4 + 4-cycloaddition reaction between cyclohexadiene iron tricarbonyl complex and appended dienes (198) generates cyclooctadiene tricyclic adducts (199) (Scheme 56).232 The first example of an asymmetric intermolecular 4 + 4-photocycloaddition reaction in solution between 9-cyanoanthracene and chiral 2-methoxy-l-naphthamides has been reported. The frozen chirality is effectively transferred to the optically active product.233... 

During nearly forty years of study, the photocycloaddition of 2-pyri-dones has consistently exhibited versatile and reliable [4+4] reactivity. When dimerization is not desired, intramolecular reactions efficiently steer two pyridones to react. Alternatively, intermolecular cross reaction with an excess of another four-electron reactant can be extended to other heterocycles and to simple 1,3-dienes. It is perhaps surprising how few photoreactions of 2-pyridone fail to yield [4+4] products. Failure of the [4+4] reaction can result from a tethering unit that prevents the normal head-to-tail reactivity and introduces strain (Figures 14 and 22) or from steric hindrance caused by excessive substitution at the reacting carbons (Figure 23). A 4-alkoxy substrate shuts down the normally dominant photodimerization reaction and provides opportunities for other [4+-2] or [4+4] reactions (Figures 6 and 7). 

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