Isoxazoline-5-spirocyclopropanes

The impulse to the study of these cycloadditions came from the discovery that 5-spirocyclopropane isoxazolidines (or isoxazolines) undergo a thermal rearrangement resulting in the production of selectively substituted tetrahydro-(or dihydro) pyrid-4-ones (Scheme 42) [64], In particular, cyclic nitrones gave ultimately N-bridgehead bicyclic ketones, molecular skeleton of many alkaloid families [65]. 

Dipolar cycloadditions of nitrile oxides 216 onto 1 gave much poorer yields of cycloadducts 217 than those of nitrones 205. The cycloadditions of 216 to 1 require higher temperatures and unfavorably compete with their dimerization to furoxanes. However, stable nitrile oxides 216 with bulky substituents R that hamper dimerization, can be used. The thermal rearrangements of 5-spirocyclopropane-annelated isoxazolines 217 always required higher temperatures than the isoxazolidine counterparts. Under these conditions the second cyclopropane ring was also cleaved to give furopyridines 218 (Scheme 48) [136, 137]. 

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