Methanol Diels-Alder

Perfluorotetramethylthiadiphosphanorbornadiene and bis(trifluoromethyl) thiadiphosphole can be prepared by thermolysis of an adduct of methanol and hexakis(trifluoromethyl)-l,4-diphosphabarrelene with sulfur [113] (equation 23) Pyrolysis of the adduct of hexafluorinated Dewar benzene and phenyl azide results in ring expansion giving azepine, which photochemically yields an intramolecular 2-1-2 adduct, a good dienophile for the Diels-Alder reaction [114, //5] (equation 24) Thermolysis of fluonnated derivatives of 1,5-diazabicyclo-... 

In the case of 1,3-diphenylisoindole (29), Diels-Alder addition with maleic anhydride is readily reversible, and the position of equilibrium is found to be markedly dependent on the solvent. In ether, for example, the expected adduet (117) is formed in 72% yield, whereas in aeetonitrile solution the adduet is almost completely dissociated to its components. Similarly, the addition product (118) of maleic anhydride and l,3-diphenyl-2-methjdi.soindole is found to be completely dissociated on warming in methanol. The Diels-Alder products (119 and 120) formed by the addition of dimethyl acetylene-dicarboxylate and benzyne respectively to 1,3-diphcnylisoindole, show no tendency to revert to starting materials. An attempt to extrude carbethoxynitrene by thermal and photochemical methods from (121), prepared from the adduct (120) by treatment with butyl-lithium followed by ethyl chloroform ate, was unsuccessful. 

Pyrano[3,4-i]indol-3-one (329) enters the Diels-Alder reaetion with methoxy-butenone as an eleetron-rieh olefin [92JCS(P1)415]. After deearboxylation of the primary adduet330,2-aeetyl-3-methoxy-l, 9-dimethyl-2,3-dihydroearbazole (331) eliminates methanol to form 2-aeetyl-l,9-dimethylearbazole (332) [92JCS (Pl)415]. 

Effect of water additive was examined in the asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions catalyzed by the J ,J -DBF0X/Ph-Ni(C104)2 complex. After addition of an appropriate amount of water to the anhydrous complex A, the reaction with an excess amount of cyclopentadiene was performed at room temperature. Enantioselectivity was as high as 93% ee for the endo cycloadduct up to five equivalents of water added and the satisfactory level of 88% ee was maintained when 10 equivalents were added. However, enantioselectivity gradually decreased with the increased amounts of water added 83 and 55% ee from 15 and 50 equivalents, respectively (Scheme 7.11). When the reaction temperature went down to -40 °C, the enantioselectivity as high as 98% ee resulted up to 15 equivalents of water additive. The effect of methanol at room temperature was even more surprising. In the presence of 15 and 100 equivalents of methanol, high levels of enantioselectivities of 88% and 83% ee, respectively, were recorded for the reactions at room temperature. 

The presence of the catalyst can also favor multiple Diels-Alder reactions of cycloalkenones. Two typical examples are reported in Schemes 3.6 and 3.7. When (E)-l-methoxy-1,3-butadiene (14) interacted with 2-cyclohexenone in the presence of Yb(fod)3 catalyst, a multiple Diels-Alder reaction occurred [21] and afforded a 1 1.5 mixture of the two tricyclic ketones 15 and 16 (Scheme 3.6). The sequence of events leading to the products includes the elimination of methanol from the primary cycloadduct to afford a bicyclic dienone that underwent a second cycloaddition. Similarly, 4-acetoxy-2-cyclopenten-l-one (17) (Scheme 3.7) has been shown to behave as a conjunctive reagent for a one-pot multiple Diels-Alder reaction with a variety of dienes under AICI3 catalysis, providing a mild and convenient methodology to synthesize hydrofluorenones [22]. The role of the Lewis acid is crucial to facilitate the elimination of acetic acid from the cycloadducts. The results of the reaction of 17 with diene... 

C-Disaccharide analogs of trehalose were recently [20c] prepared by using as a key step an aqueous Diels-Alder reaction between the sodium salt of glyoxylic acid and the water soluble homochiral glucopyranosil-l,3-pentadiene 19 (Equation 6.1). A mixture of four diastereoisomers in a 41 24 21 14 proportion was obtained after esterification with methanol and acetylation. The main diaster-eoisomer 20 was isolated and characterized as benzoyl-derivative. 

In fl-trimethylsilylcarboxylic acids the non-Kolbe electrolysis is favored as the carbocation is stabilized by the p-effect of the silyl group. Attack of methanol at the silyl group subsequently leads in a regioselective elimination to the double bond (Eq. 29) [307, 308]. This reaction has been used for the construction of 1,4-cyclohexa-dienes. At first Diels-Alder adducts are prepared from dienes and P-trimethylsilyl-acrylic acid as acetylene-equivalent, this is then followed by decarboxylation-desilyl-ation (Eq. 30) [308]. Some examples are summarized in Table 11, Nos. 12-13. 

Diels-Alder reaction between the Danishefsky triene 1659 and excess dimethyl-acetylene dicarboxylate or methylpropiolate in boiling benzene proceeds, via 1660 and 1661, with loss of trimethylsilanol 4, to give 1662 a and 1662b in 51 and 37% yield, respectively these are transsilylated with methanol to give 1663a and 1663b [40] (Scheme 10.18). 

The Diels-Alder reaction is one of the most important methods used to form cyclic structures and is one of the earliest examples of carbon-carbon bond formation reactions in aqueous media.21 Diels-Alder reactions in aqueous media were in fact first carried out in the 1930s, when the reaction was discovered,22 but no particular attention was paid to this fact until 1980, when Breslow23 made the dramatic observation that the reaction of cyclopentadiene with butenone in water (Eq. 12.1) was more than 700 times faster than the same reaction in isooctane, whereas the reaction rate in methanol is comparable to that in a hydrocarbon solvent. Such an unusual acceleration of the Diels-Alder reaction by water was attributed to the hydrophobic effect, 24 in which the hydrophobic interactions brought together the two nonpolar groups in the transition state. 

The mechanism of this transformation is a matter of debate, and may vary with the structure of the heteroanalogous carbonyl compound employed. Although a Diels-Alder-type process is conceivable [246], a Lewis acid-induced addition of the silyl enol ether moiety in 2-453 followed by a cyclizahon through a nucleophilic intramolecular attack of the amine and subsequent elimination of methanol is assumed in this case [247]. 

Two reactions have come to be extensively used with silenes, arising from the need to trap the short-lived species cleanly and in high yield, as evidence either of their formation or of the extent of their formation. These are the addition of alcohols, usually methanol, across the double bond to yield an alkoxysilane, and the Diels-Alder reaction with a diene, often 2,3-dimethylbutadiene. Each is an example of the two different types of addition to the Si=C double bond. 

In certain cases the initial Diels-Alder adducts of ADC compounds are labile. For example, the adduct (121) from cyclopentadiene and azodibenzoyl rearranges in quantitative yield on heating in aqueous methanol to give the 1,3,4-oxadiazine 122.207 Solvent has little or no effect, and a concerted [3,3] rearrangement as shown in Scheme 17 seems the most likely explanation. The rearrangement has been extensively studied by Mackay and coworkers,208 and it shows great dependence on substitution effects. 

In this regard Gedye et al. studied reactions of alkyl halides with bases in which the amounts of elimination and substitution were compared and a Diels-Alder reaction in which the ratio of endo to exo adducts was investigated [71]. In the first set of experiments, the ratios of elimination to substitution products for the reactions of 1-and 2-bromooctane with methoxide ion in methanol and with tert-butoxide ion in tert-butyl alcohol, obtained under MW heating in a sealed Teflon container, were compared with those found using normal reflux conditions (Scheme 4.25). 

The Diels-Alder reaction of cyclopentadiene with methyl acrylate in methanol was studied by Berson et al. [72] under conventional conditions, and shown to give a mixture of the endo and exo isomers 48 and 49 (Scheme 4.26). 

As mentioned above, the electrochemical oxidation of a diene yields 1,2- and 1,4-addition products when the reaction is carried out in the presence of a nucleophile such as methanol or acetic acid. When the oxidation is carried out in the absence of the nucleophile it usually yields a polymeric compound as the major product. The formation of a small amount of the Diels-Alder adduct is, however, observed when the reaction is carried out in CH2CI2 with graphite anode. One of the proposed reaction pathways is shown in equation 68, though it is not clear whether the cyclohexadienyl radical serves as a diene (as shown in equation 6) or a dienophile in the Diels-Alder reaction. 

These authors found that the tetrazinylhydrazone derivative 46 when reacted with pyrrolidinoenamine 47 in methanol yields the cyclopenta-fused derivative of the title ring system 48 in 94% yield. A similar transformation was carried out successfully by using morpholine-enamine in somewhat poorer yield. When the transformation was tried in acetonitrile as a solvent, a totally different reaction was observed a regular Diels-Alder reaction between the tetrazine ring and the enamine double bond (of inverse electron demand) took place to yield pyridazines. 

The behavior of Diels-Alder adducts substituted at the C(3) position (313) is different because the substituent has to prevent an aromatization. Treatment of triketone 313 with pyridine-methanol (1 1, v/v) at 22 °C results in the expected [l,5]-acetyl shift and gives a good yield of the triketone 314, which isomerizes smoothly when heated in the same medium at 65 °C to furnish dihydronaphthalene 315 (equation 109)168. Similar treatment of the triketone 316 affords the bicyclic product 318 rather than 319, presumably via the intermediate 317 (equation 110)168. 

TABLE 27. Rate constants (M 1 s ) for Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with several dienophiles in methanol, water and a, 6-cyclodextrin 12 water solution 125... 

Wasserman and Keehn ") have also carried out the photosensitized auto-oxidation of anti-[2.2](l,4)naphthalenophane (34A). Irradiation of anti-34 in methanol and simultaneous reaction with singlet oxygen affords the oxidation product 127 in 20% yield. The primary step in the reaction is assumed to be formation of a peroxide (128) whose geometry permits an intra-annular Diels—Alder reaction as second step methanol-ysis then leads to 127 which was isolated. 

Asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions have also been achieved in the presence of poly(ethylene glycol)-supported chiral imidazohdin-4-one [113] and copper-loaded silica-grafted bis(oxazolines) [114]. Polymer-bound, camphor-based polysiloxane-fixed metal 1,3-diketonates (chirasil-metals) (37) have proven to catalyze the hetero Diels-Alder reaction of benzaldehyde and Danishefsky s diene. Best catalysts were obtained when oxovanadium(lV) and europium(III) where employed as coordinating metals. Despite excellent chemical yields the resulting pyran-4-ones were reported to be formed with only moderate stereoselectivity (Scheme 4.22). The polymeric catalysts are soluble in hexane and could be precipitated by addition of methanol. Interestingly, the polymeric oxovanadium(III)-catalysts invoke opposite enantioselectivities compared with their monomeric counterparts [115]. 

This simple view is clearly true for some reactions, e.g., the Diels-Alder dimerization of cyclopentadiene, where the rate constant in ethanol is the same as in hexane, and only a factor of three larger than in the gas phase. In contrast, for the example mentioned above of the 8 2 reaction (1), the reaction proceeds fifteen orders of magnitude faster in the gas phase than in methanol. For the Sfjl reaction of tert-butyl iodide, however, the gas phase rate constant can be estimated to be about 86 orders of magnitude slower than the solution phase rate constant. It is thus for ionic reactions that the tremendous changes in the rate constant upon solvation are seen. We are therefore specifically interested in those gas phase ion-molecule reactions that are the counterparts to the well-known solution phase reactions. 

Marchand and co-workers ° synthesis of 5,5,9,9-tetranitropentacyclo[5.3.0.0 .0 °.0 ] decane (52) reqnired the dioxime of pentacyclo[5.3.0.0 .0 °.0 ]decane-5,9-dione (49) for the incorporation of the four nitro groups. Synthesis of the diketone precursor (48) was achieved in only five steps from cyclopentanone. Thus, acetal protection of cyclopentanone with ethylene glycol, followed by a-bromination, and dehydrobromination with sodium in methanol, yielded the reactive intermediate (45), which underwent a spontaneous Diels-Alder cycloaddition to give (46). Selective acetal deprotection of (46) was followed by a photo-initiated intramolecular cyclization and final acetal deprotection with aqueous mineral acid to give the diketone (48). Derivatization of the diketone (48) to the corresponding dioxime (49) was followed by conversion of the oxime groups to gem-dinitro functionality using standard literature procedures. 

A similar Diels-Alder reaction was investigated at DFT-level by Houk and co-workers [57]. Instead of using TADDOL, they selected one methanol molecule, two methanol molecules and 1,4-butanediol in cooperative and bifurcated coordination as catalysts. It was found that cooperative catalysis is generally the favored route. 

The imidazoUdinonium salt 12 HC1 was shown to be an excellent catalyst for the Diels-Alder reaction of a,P-unsaturated aldehydes 15 (Scheme 2) [3]. Using just 5 mol% of the catalyst at room temperature in a methanol/water mixture (19 1), adducts were obtained in excellent yield (75-99%) and enantiomeric excess (84-93%). The simplicity of these transformations, operating at room temperature in the presence of moisture and air without the need for rigorous purification of solvents and reagents, makes these procedures highly practical and opened up a new area for further research. 

Electrochemical oxidation of 2,6-dimethoxy-4-allylphenol in aqueous methanol buffered with sodium hydrogen carbonate gives similar amounts of 2- and 4-methoxy substitution products, fhe 2-methoxylated product readily undergoes a Diels-Alder reaction with itself. The dimer 19, the natural product asatone, is found in some 1 % yield and most of the 2-methoxylated product is lost by addition of the ally alkene bond across the diene system of a second molecule [109]. 

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