Ketenes reactions with dienes

Nitrile, azo, and nitroso groups, and even the oxygen molecule, take part in such reactions, and acetylenic triple bonds in particular confer reactivity as philodiene. As for dienes, so for philodienes the reactivity depends on the constitution. Activating groups particularly favor addition. The most reactive components include <%,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds such as acrolein, acrylic acid, maleic acid and its anhydride, acetylenedicarboxylic acid, p-benzo-quinone and cinnamaldehyde, as well as saturated nitriles and <%,/ -unsaturated nitro compounds. Tetracyanoethylene also reacts with dienes.41,42 Conjugation of the double bond to an active group is not absolutely essential for a philodiene, for dienes add under certain conditions also to philodienes with isolated double bonds examples of the latter type are vinyl esters and vinyl-acetic acid. Ketenes do not undergo the Diels-Alder reaction with dienes, but instead yield cyclobutanone derivatives 43,44... 

Ketenes participate as dienes as well as dienophiles in [4+2] cycloaddition reactions. For example, several ketenes with a suitable substituent in the a-positions readily participate in [4+2] cycloaddition reactions. The substituents include unsaturated groups, a-oxo, a-thio or a-imino groups. In their role as dienophiles, ketenes participate in the reaction with dienes, azadienes, diimines and o-quinones by addition across the C=C bonds, and sometimes the C=0 bonds. The [2+2+2] adducts obtained in the reaction of ketenes with C=N double-bonded substrates (see Section 4.1.4.2) are another example of [4+2] cycloaddition reactions of ketenes. 

A key transformation in Corey s prostaglandin synthesis is a Diels-Alder reaction between a 5-(alkoxymethyl)-l,3-cyclopenta-diene and a ketene equivalent such as 2-chloroacrylonitrile (16). As we have already witnessed in Scheme 3, it is possible to bring about a smooth [4+2] cycloaddition reaction between 5-substituted cyclopentadiene 15 and 2-chloroacrylonitrile (16) to give racemic 14 as a mixture of epimeric chloronitriles. Under these conditions, the diastereomeric chloronitriles are both produced in racemic form because one enantiotopic face of dienophile 16 will participate in a Diels-Alder reaction with the same facility as the other enantiotopic face. In subsequent work, Corey s group demonstrated that racemic hydroxy acid 11, derived in three steps from racemic 14 (see Scheme 3), could be resolved in a classical fashion with (+)-ephe-... 

Allenes and ketenes react with activated aikenes and alkynes. Ketenes give 1,2 addition, even with conjugated dienes.Ketenes also add to unactivated aikenes if sufficiently long reaction times are used. Allenes and ketenes also add to each other. 

The synthetic utility of the D-A reaction can be expanded by the use of dienophiles that contain masked functionality and are the synthetic equivalents of unreactive or inaccessible compounds. (See Section 13.1.2 for a more complete discussion of the concept of synthetic equivalents.) For example, a-chloroacrylonitrile shows satisfactory reactivity as a dienophile. The a-chloronitrile functionality in the adduct can be hydrolyzed to a carbonyl group. Thus, a-chloroacrylonitrile can function as the equivalent of ketene, CH2=C=0,63 which is not a suitable dienophile because it has a tendency to react with dienes by [2 + 2] cycloaddition, rather than the desired [4 + 2] fashion. 

The reactivity of the produced complexes was also examined [30a,b]. Since the benzopyranylidene complex 106 has an electron-deficient diene moiety due to the strong electron-withdrawing nature of W(CO)5 group, 106 is expected to undergo inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction with electron-rich alkenes. In fact, naphthalenes 116 variously substituted at the 1-, 2-, and 3-positions were prepared by the reaction of benzopyranylidene complexes 106 and typical electron-rich alkenes such as vinyl ethers, ketene acetals, and enamines through the Diels-Alder adducts 115, which simultaneously eliminated W(CO)6 and an alcohol or an amine at rt (Scheme 5.35). 

An extension to the aza-diene method is the use of diazadienium iodide - its reaction with acetylenes, ketenes, and acrylic dienophiles yields pyridines of varying substitution patterns (Scheme 54) <2004TL9557>. Similarly,... 

The most nucleophilic atom on the diene adds to the most electrophilic atom on the ketene and the cis geometry at the ring junction comes from the cis double bond of cyclopentadiene. It is impressive that even this excellent diene undergoes no Diels-Alder reaction with ketene as dienophile. The [2 + 2] cycloaddition must be much faster. 

N-Protected 2-oxoazonane formed ketene aminal diphenylphosphate 180 via potassium enolate. It underwent coupling reactions with appropriate partners under palladium(0)-catalyzed conditions (Scheme 37). Reactions proceeded smoothly in good to excellent yields furnishing diene 181 and ester 182 <1998CC1757>. 

The addition of a C-2 (equation 1 R = H > alkyl, aryl > OMe NR2), C-3, or C-4 electron-donating substituent to a 1 -oxa-1,3-butadiene electronically decreases its rate of 4ir participation in a LUMOdiene-controlled Diels-Alder reaction (c/. Table 5). Nonetheless, a useful set of C-3 substituted l-oxa-l,3-buta-dienes have proven to be effective dienes ° and have been employed in the preparation of carbohydrates (Table 6). The productive use of such dienes may be attributed to the relative increased stability of the cisoid versus transoid diene conformation that in turn may be responsible for the Diels-Alder reactivity of the dienes. Clear demonstrations of the anticipated [4 + 2] cycloaddition rate deceleration of 1-oxa-1,3-butadienes bearing a C-4 electron-donating substituent have been detailed (Table 6 entry 4). >> "3 In selected instances, the addition of a strong electron-donating substituent (OR, NR2) to the C-4 position provides sufficient nucleophilic character to the 1-oxa-1,3-butadiene to permit the observation of [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions with reactive, electrophilic alkenes including ketenes and sul-fenes, often in competition with [2 + 2] cycloaddition reactions. ... 

When ketenes react with 1,3-dienes, bicyclic cyclobutanones are obtained. The mechanism of this reaction is usually described as a one-step [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, but the following two-step mechanism was recently proposed. 

Conjugated ketenes. a-Diazo-y.S-unsaturated P-ketoesters undergo rearrangement to ketenes which enter Diels-Alder reactions as dienes toward electron-rich alkenes. Substituted phenols are acquired. 3-Acyloxy-2-chloro-2-cyclohexenones are formed when 2-diazocyclohexane-l,3-diones are treated with acid chlorides in the presence of Rh COAc),. ... 

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