Isoxazoles rearrangements

A rearrangement that does not fall into the pattern described in this section has been found by Cusmano and Ruccia.191 This time a 1,2,4-oxadiazole is the final product formed by nitrosation of an imidazole. What intermediates lie between the nitroso compound (103) and the final product (104) have not been determined, but the reagent is alcoholic hydrochloric acid. Other examples of this type of rearrangement are known191,192 that also resemble the nitrosopyrrole to isoxazole rearrangement.192"... 

A different type of rearrangement occurs when suitable side chains are a to a pyridine-like nitrogen atom. In the monocyclic series this can be generalized by Scheme 43. For a given side chain the rate of rearrangement is l,2,4-oxadiazoles>isoxazoles> 1,2,5-oxadiazoles. Typical side chains include hydrazone, oxime and amidine. Some examples are shown in Table 9 (79AHC(25)147). Similar rearrangements for benzazoles are discussed in Section 4.02.3.2.4. 

The reaction is illustrated by the conversion of the 1,2,4-oxadiazole oxime (504) into the 3-acylamino-l,2,5-oxadiazole (505). This irreversible rearrangement occurred on heating (504) in hydrochloric acid (81AHC(29)l4l). Isoxazoles also undergo this rearrangement and these are discussed in Chapter 4.16. 

The behaviour of /S-oxovinylazides is quite similar to those above. The Z isomer (556), formed from the /S-halo carbonyl compound and sodium azide, is unstable losing N2 and forming the isoxazole (557) in an anchimerically assisted concerted reaction (75AG(E)775, 78H(9)1207). At moderate temperatures (50-80 °C) the E isomer formed acylazirines which at higher temperatures rearranged to oxazoles and isoxazoles. 

The rearrangement represented by the conversion of (274) into (275) involves derivatives of a considerable number of azoles, including the isoxazoles. These are of general interest and isoxazole derivatives which undergo this rearrangement are shown in Table 10. 

Table 10 Rearrangement of Isoxazoles with Suitable Three-atom Side Chains...

However, the thermolysis of diacylfuroxans (429) yielded two types of nitrile Af-oxides. An uncrowded diacylfuroxan such as (429a) rearranged to the a- acyloximino nitrile A-oxide (430) the diacylfuroxan with bulky substituents such as in (429b) gave rise to the half molecule acyl nitrile Af-oxide (431). Both types of nitrile Af-oxides (431) and (430) have been trapped with DMAD and hexafluoro-2-butyne to give isoxazoles in good yield. These reactions are shown in Scheme 97. 

Disubstituted and trisubstituted 3-isonitrosopyrroles rearrange to 3-acylisoxazoles under the influence of hot, dilute mineral acids. For example, isonitrosotriphenylpyrrole (436), when treated with boiling alcoholic mineral acid, is converted into 3-benzoyl-4,5-diphenyl-isoxazole (437) (62HC(17)1, p. 34). 

The treatment of 3-acylisoxazoles (438) with hydroxylamine hydrochloride gives furazan ketones (439). On the other hand, furazan ketones (439) rearrange to 3-acylisoxazoles (438) with a loss of hydroxylamine under the influence of a mineral acid. Thus, by refluxing phenacylphenylfurazan with concentrated alcoholic hydrogen chloride, 3-benzoyl-5-phenyl-isoxazole is formed similarly, phenyl(phenacylphenyl)furazan gives 3-benzoyl-3,5-diphenyl-isoxazole (62HC(17)1, p. 35). 

Other heterocycles which rearrange to isoxazoles are pyridazine 1,2-dioxides (77CC856) and pyridinium salts (80CPB2083), although these transformations are of little synthetic importance. 

The mononuclear heterocyclic rearrangement (MHR) of isoxazole-3-amidoxime 108 in the presence of a base and hydroxylamine with concomitant removal of the amide moiety affords furazan acetaldoxime 109 (Scheme 56) (91CHE651, 91KGS827). 

Prolonged reaction of 3,4-dihydroximinomethylfuroxan 105 with aqueous ammonia in the presence of pyridine resulted in a rearrangement to give isoxazole... 

Nucleophilic substitution of the halogen atom of halogenomethylisoxazoles proceeds readily this reaction does not differ essentially from that of benzyl halides. One should note the successful hydrolysis of 4-chloromethyl- and 4-(chlorobenzyl)-isoxazoles by freshly precipitated lead oxide, a reagent seldom used in organic chemistry. Other halides, ethers, and esters of the isoxazole series have been obtained from 3- and 4-halogenomethylisoxazoles, and 3-chloro-methylisoxazole has been reported in the Arbuzov rearrangement. Panizzi has used dichloromethylisoxazole derivatives to synthesize isoxazole-3- and isoxazole-5-aldehydes/ ... 

Acylisoxazol-5-ones (129), which are -diketones, on being heated in alkaline medium undergo acyl-lactonic rearrangement to form stable isoxazole-4-carboxylic acids (130). ... 

Isoxazole derivatives are stable toward peracids but can be ozonolyzed. This, as is well known, enabled the 0-benzoyloximes of a-diketones with a well established configuration to be obtained, which were used to investigate the Beckmann rearrangement mech-anism. ... 

Although 2-acyl-2//-azirines are known to give oxazoles upon irradiation, the reaction is wavelength dependent, and isoxazoles are formed at some wavelengths, as they are in the thermal rearrangement of 2-acyl-2//-azirines.<74TL29,75JA4682> Since the thermal reaction of diazocarbonyl compounds with nitriles leads to oxazole formation, it would seem that mechanistic path C is unlikely in these reactions. 

The reverse process has also been examined. 2-Phenyloxazole is converted in a similar fashion to 3-phenyl-2//-azirine-2-carbaldehyde on irradiation in benzene or cyclohexane.128 Further rearrangement to the corresponding isoxazole can be effected thermally but not photochemically. A competing pathway leading to the formation of 4-phenyloxazole has also been observed and is thought to involve a bicyclic intermediate arising by 2,5-bonding. 

Amino derivatives of 1,2,4-oxadiazoles, isoxazoles, and 1,2,5-oxadiazoles interact with phenyl isocyanate to produce various 3-substituted 5-amino-l,2,4-thiadiazoles, via intermediate thioureides which can be isolated. The tendency to rearrange follows the order 1,2,4-oxadiazoles, isoxazoles, and 1,2,5-oxadiazoles <1996CHEC-II(4)307>. 

Allenes add nitrile oxides either to one or two double bonds. For mono- and 1,1-disubstituted allenes, relative activity of the two bonds depends on the nature of substituents. The reaction (Scheme 1.18) of N-propadienylanilines 54 with 3,5-dichloro-2,4,6-trimethylbenzonitrile oxide proceeds site- and regioselectively to give 5-substituted 4-methylene-4,5-dihydroisoxazoles 55, which add a second molecule of nitrile oxide to afford 4,5/-spirobi-(4,5-dihydroisoxazoles) 56. Dihy-droisoxazoles 55 isomerize to 4-(2-aminobenzyl)isoxazoles 57 via a Claisen-type rearrangement (224). 

Reactions of arylsulfonylallenes with 3,5-dichloro-2,4,6-trimethylbenzonitrile oxide (227) proceed in a manner similar to that of the above-mentioned sulfides. Probably, both 4- and 5-alkylidene-4,5-dihydroisoxazole cycloadducts are initially formed which then undergo different transformations. 4-Alkylidene isomers give spiro adducts such as 60 with an additional molecule of nitrile oxide, while 5-isomers convert to isoxazoles 61, products of their prototropic rearrangement. 

Nitrile oxides also undergo [3 + 2]-cydoaddition with allenes. As shown below, a variety of products were formed depending on the substituents of both nitrile oxide and allene [72b, 79]. The cycloadduct 80 was slowly converted to the isomeric isoxazole 81 in the presence of ZnCl2 via a sigmatropic rearrangement [79a]. 

The electron impact mass spectra of 3-methyl-4-nitro-5-styryl-isoxazoles exhibit, on the contrary, only negligible loss of OH"80. This has been interpreted in terms of an isoxazole-to-azirine rearrangement80. The latter fragments directly to an abundant cinnamoyl ion as well as rearranges to oxazole and an epoxide through an intramolecular oxidation of the ethylenic bond by the nitro group80 see Scheme 10. 

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