Isoindoles Diels-Alder reaction

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). 

The combination of the Diels-Alder reaction of fi-sulfonylnitroethylene and the Barton-Zard reaction provides a new synthesis of pyrroles fused with polycyclic skeletons fEq 10 31 Pyrroles fused with bicycle [3 3 3 Qctodiene are important precursors for synthesis of isoindoles via the retro Diels-Alder reaction fEq 10 33 ... 

In carbocyclic chemistry, rather firm dividing lines usually exist between aromatic, non-aromatic, and anti-aromatic compounds, while in heterocyclic chemistry enormous variations in the extent of aromatic character are displayed.52 Furthermore, there is an enormous number of potential heterocycles as compared to carbocycles, as will be detailed in section 3 of this review. The degree of aromaticity has classically been judged qualitatively in connection with the diene character of heterocycles manifested in Diels— Alder reactions or polymerizations. In this regard for instance, furan (42) is less aromatic than benzene (43), as is isoindole (44) compared to indole (45) (Scheme 18). Therefore, a quantitative aromaticity scale would be useful. 

Synthesis of benzo[c]furans and isoindoles (181) is also possible by the addition of benzyne to the respective monocycles (178), followed by reduction (179 — 180) and pyrolysis. In an alternative procedure, (179) is reacted with 3,6-bis(2-pyridyl)-l,2,4,5-tetrazine, which affords (181) under far less vigorous conditions via a retro Diels-Alder reaction of the intermediate (182). 4-Phenyl-1,2,4-triazoles pyrolyze to form isoindoles (Section 3.4.3.12.2). 

Shortly after this report, two other routes to isoindole were announced. Both involved retro-Diels-Alder reactions. The first, carried out by Bornstein and his colleagues,15 employed the gas-phase pyrolysis of 14 to give isoindole and ethylene (Eq. 4). This approach has been developed further by employing the iV-f-butoxycarbonyl derivative (Section III,B).16... 

Diels-Alder reactions of isoindole give crystalline products which are easily handled. The reaction with (V-phenylmaleimide is outlined in Eq. (3). Adducts with maleic anhydride and with (V-methylmaleimide have also been obtained.14,15,17... 

Thus, the pyrolysis of 25 at 60Q°C/0.5 mm causes a retro-Diels-Alder reaction to ensue with the elimination of ethylene. At the same time the t-butoxycarbonyl group thermolyzes to generate carbon dioxide and isobutylene.16 Hence, this is a useful route to 2-unsubstituted isoindoles. 

Isoindoles undergo the Diels-Alder reaction readily, but there appears to be only one example of the reaction with simple olefins. This is a special, intramolecular, case where the frequency factor is high (Eq. 17).55... 

The total synthesis of d/-21-oxo-gelsemine reported by Hart and collaborators (107) features two free radical cyclizations (C-5-C-16 bond formation in gelsemine) to construct both a tricyclic substructure 314 in the terpene part of gelsemine and the spiro-oxindole moiety. The synthesis was initiated with the Diels-Alder reaction between A-methylmaleimide and the diene 302, followed by treatment of the crude cycloadduct with 2,2-dimethyl-l,3-propanediol and a catalytic amount of p-toluenesulfonic acid, to give the perhydro-isoindole 304 in 43% yield. By application of the Grieco dehydra-... 

A new route to 2-t-butoxycarbonylisoindole has been reported. The sequence starts with furfural which was converted to 62. Reaction with KO-t-Bu then generated the dihydroisoindole 65 by a reaction which presumably involves an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction of the allene 63. The isoindole formed by dehydration is trapped by reactive dienophiles. <94JCS(CC)1535>... 

Oxazoles readily participate in cycloaddition reactions as dienophiles and as dienes in Diels-Alder reactions, and suitably substituted oxazoles participate in sigmatropic rearrangements (e.g., aza-Claisen rearrangements). In particular, the Diels-Alder reaction of oxazoles is one of the most widely explored and synthetically useful reactions, and as such, it has been used extensively both in natural product syntheses and to convert oxazoles to other heterocyclic ring systems. For example, a partial list of heterocyclic systems readily accessible from oxazoles via Diels-Alder reactions or other cycloadditions include pyridines hydroxy-pyridines isoindoles pyridazines tetrahydronaphthyridines benzo[h]-l,6-naphthyridines benzopyrano[3,4-b]pyridines 2-substituted, 2,4-disubstituted,... 

Diels-Alder Reactions. Isoindole is reactive toward dienophiles, forming Diels-Alder cycloadducts by reacting across... 

The n-butyllithium exchanges with the bromo compound to give -butyl bromide and an aryllithium. Elimination of lithium tosylate gives the naphthalyne, which combines with the isoindole in a Diels-Alder reaction [26] (Section 5.3.1). 

Isoindole itself gives normal Diels-Alder addition products, (107 and 108), with maleic anhydride and A-phcnylmaleimide, these derivatives constituting the main evidence for forma,tion of the parent substance. 2-Alkyl- and 2-arylisoindoles also give normal addition products with these two dienophiles.Although only one product is generally isolated, it seems likely, in view of the known tendency of several Diels-Alder adducts of isoindoles to dissociate to their components (see below), that both exo and endo stereoisomers might be formed in certain cases. The reaction between 2-p-tolyl-isoindole and A-phenylmaleimide has been shown to give both e,xo (109) and endo (110) addition products. ... 

Benz[/]isoindole (125), recently prepared from the p-toluene-sulfonyl derivative (124), proved to be too unstable for isolation, but eould be trapped in solution as the Diels-Alder adduct (127). The corresponding 1-phenyl derivative (126) was also prepared and, aecording to spectral measurements, reacts with maleic anhydride to give the product (128) derived by additive substitution. This subsequently rearranged to the adduct (129). The same behavior is observed in the reaction of (126) with V-phenylmaleimide. This provides the first clear indication that substitution products from isoindole derivatives and dienophiles can be converted into the normal addition products. 

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... 

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