Isoindoles cycloadditions

Hydroxy-THISs react with electron-deficient alkynes to give nonisol-able adducts that extrude carbonyl sulfide, affording pyrroles (23). Compound 16 (X = 0) seems particularly reactive (Scheme 16) (25). The cycloaddition to benzyne yields isoindoles in low- yield. Further cyclo-addition between isoindole and benzyne leads to an iminoanthracene as the main product (Scheme 17). The cycloadducts derived from electron-deficient alkenes are stable (23, 25) unless highly strained. Thus the two adducts, 18a (R = H, R = COOMe) and 18b (R = COOMe, R = H), formed from 7, both extrude furan and COS under the reaction conditions producing the pyrroles (19. R = H or COOMe) (Scheme 18). Similarly, the cycloadduct formed between 16 (X = 0) and dimethylfumarate... 

Benzo[Z)]furans and indoles do not take part in Diels-Alder reactions but 2-vinyl-benzo[Z)]furan and 2- and 3-vinylindoles give adducts involving the exocyclic double bond. In contrast, the benzo[c]-fused heterocycles function as highly reactive dienes in [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions. Thus benzo[c]furan, isoindole (benzo[c]pyrrole) and benzo[c]thiophene all yield Diels-Alder adducts (137) with maleic anhydride. Adducts of this type are used to characterize these unstable molecules and in a similar way benzo[c]selenophene, which polymerizes on attempted isolation, was characterized by formation of an adduct with tetracyanoethylene (76JA867). 

Synthetic routes to the benzocyclazines are analogues of those which lead to the cyclazines themselves. Representatives of the benzoh ]cycl[3.2.2]azine (indolizi no [3,4,5- ] isoindole, 365) ring system result from cycloaddition of, for example, DMAD to pyrido[2,l-tf]isoindole-6-carbonitrile 370 <1986H(24)3071> (Scheme 100). An alternative synthesis, which starts from the cyclazine 371 and involves construction of the additional benzenoid ring by a double Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons type of reaction, apparently gives the tetracyclic product 365 in only very low yields (Scheme 101) <1988H(27)2251>. 

Reduced isoindoles are formed when acetylenes are cooligomerized with N-phenyl- or N-methylmaleimide but the synthetic value of these processes is limited by competing secondary reactions of product cycloaddition (Scheme 51) and oxidation.87... 

A synthesis of highly-substituted tetracenes was developed starting from isoindole (benzo[c]pyrrole) <06OL273>. For example, treatment of dibromonaphthalene 87 with phenyllithium in the presence of isoindole 86 followed by deamination of the intermediate cycloadduct provided tetracene 88. Separately, the synthesis and cycloaddition chemistry of oxadisilole-fused isoindoles was investigated <06SL2510>. 

Use has been made of the C-N cleavage in the conversion of the bicyclic tertiary amines, derived from the 4tc + 2tc cycloaddition of pyrroles and isoindoles with benzynes, into aromatic systems, e.g. naphthalen-l,4-imines and anthracen-9,10-imines yield naphthalenes and anthracenes with the extrusion of the nitrogen bridge [24] in yields which are higher than those obtained by standard oxidation procedures. 

Derivatives of the naphthalen-l,4 -imine ring system (2) have become available only since the discovery of cycloaddition reactions of benzyne, on the one hand, and the recent rapid development of isoindole chemistry on the other. 

The synthetic viability of this protocol was demonstrated by the efficient synthesis of an isoindole alkaloid from the Mexican sponge Reniera. a-Cyanosi-lylamine (9) was treated with AgF, in the presence of dipolarophile 10 to furnish the requisite cycloadduct in 68%. An advanced intermediate in the synthesis of nicotine was also prepared by cycloaddition of 11 with phenylvinylsulfone giving the requisite adduct 12 in a 3 1 diastereomic mixture (Schem 3.3). 

The cyano-substituted nitrile ylides 123 have been generated via 1,1-elimination reactions. For example, the benzyhdene derivative 122 (R=Ph) eliminated benzene on vapor phase pyrolysis to give 123 (R=Ph), which reacted via 1,5-electrocycli-zation [see also (66)] to give the isoindole 124 (41%) (67). In a similar way, 122 [R=(CH2)3CH=CH2] gave the corresponding nitrile yhde that reacted via intramolecular cycloaddition to give the pyrroline derivative 126. 

Dumitrascu and co-workers (52) transformed 4-halosydnones into 5-halopyr-azoles by cycloaddition with DMAD and methyl propiolate followed by retro-Diels-Alder loss of CO2. Turnbull and co-workers (194) reported that the cycloadditions of 3-phenylsydnone with DMAD and diethyl acetylenedicarboxylate to form pyrazoles can be achieved in supercritical carbon dioxide. Nan ya et al. (195) studied this sydnone in its reaction with 2-methylbenzoquinone to afford the expected isomeric indazole-4,7-diones. Interestingly, Sasaki et al. (196) found that 3-phenylsydnone effects the conversion of l,4-dihydronaphthalene-l,4-imines to isoindoles, presumably by consecutive loss of carbon dioxide and A-phenylpyrazole from the primary cycloadduct. Ranganathan et al. (197-199) studied dipolar cycloadditions with the sydnone 298 derived from A-nitrosoproline (Scheme 10.43). Both acetylenic and olefinic dipolarophiles react with 298. In... 

On heating, 4-(isopropoxy)-2-phenyl-2-(trifluoromethyl)-5(2/i/)-oxazolone 65 underwent decarboxylation to the alkoxy-substituted nitrile ylide 66 that was trapped in a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition by trifluoroacetophenone to generate 68." Other dipolarophiles reacted similarly. In the absence of a dipolarophile, cyclization of 66 yielded the isoindole 67 (Scheme 7.16 Table 7.11, Fig. 7.12). 

Isocyanides, which are better candidates to react with dienes in a 1,4-fashion, were shown to cycloadd to 1-azadienes. Thus, the formation of isoindole derivative 15 as the major product (ca. 28% yield), upon treatment of benzoquinone 13 with two equivalents of p-tolyl isocyanide [81AG(E)982] was reported the reaction involves the insertion of the isocyanide carbon atom into the C—H bond of 13 leading to the 1-azadiene derivative 14, which in turn undergoes a [4 + 1] cycloaddition with a second isocyanide molecule (Scheme 4). 

Potts and McKeough81 have shown that thieno[3,4-c]pyrroles (84) and thieno[3,4-c]pyrazoles (83) undergo 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions with certain dipolarophiles. Adducts from 84 in some cases eliminated hydrogen sulfide to give isoindoles. 

The 7r-electron excessive character of pyrrole and indole renders both systems extremely susceptible to electrophilic attack and the fused benzene rings of carbazole also undergo electrophilic substitution more readily than does an unsubstituted benzene ring. In contrast, the 2/7-isoindole system only survives intact during electrophilic substitution reactions under the mildest of conditions and the system is more susceptible to [ 4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions than is pyrrole. 1,1-Disubstituted IH-isoindoles generally undergo nucleophilic addition-elimination reactions across the 2,3-bond or yield products derived from an initial electrophilic attack at the 2-position. 

The [,4 + 2] cycloaddition of dienophiles with 1-substituted pyrroles is also a reversible reaction, which has been utilized in the synthesis of 3,4-disubstituted pyrroles (b-77MI305oq) and, via the initial reaction of the pyrrole with benzyne, for the synthesis of isoindoles (81 AHC(29>341). The retro-reaction can be controlled and aided by a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of the intermediate adduct with benzonitrile oxide (74TL2163, 76RTC67) (Scheme 61). 

It seems useful to compare the chemical properties of indolizines with those of pyrroles, indoles and isoindoles. There is however one important exception, namely that cycloadditions involve the entire 7r-system of indolizines. 

When acrylonitrile or ethyl acrylate was used as the dipolarophile, the azomethine adducts (134) and (135) were formed no thiocarbonyl ylide addition products were isolable in refluxing toluene or xylene, although the isoindoles (136a) and (136b) derived from them were isolated. In contrast to the reactions with fumaronitrile or AT-phenylmaleimide, the azomethine adducts (134) and (135) were still present at higher reaction temperatures — almost 50% in toluene and 4-5% in xylene. Under the same reaction conditions other electron-deficient dipolarophiles like dimethyl fumarate, norbornene, dimethyl maleate, phenyl isocyanate, phenyl isothiocyanate, benzoyl isothiocyanate, p-tosyl isocyanate and diphenylcyclopropenone failed to undergo cycloaddition to thienopyrrole (13), presumably due to steric interactions (77HC(30)317). 

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