Nitrile oxides to olefins

Dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to olefins and acetylenes is among the most widely exploited synthetic routes towards isoxazoles and isoxazolines. It is well-known that microwave irradiation in cycloaddition reactions considerably reduces reaction times. Indeed, the use of dielectric heating (microwave-heated reactions were performed in a flask with a reflux condenser mounted outside the apparatus) allowed for a remarkable reduction of the cycloaddition reaction time from 6-12 hours to merely 3 minutes [69]. Simple aqueous workup provided the target isoxazoles and isoxazolines. The requisite nitrile oxides for the cycloaddition reaction were generated in situ from the corresponding nitroalkanes, 4-(4,6-dimethoxy [1,3,5]triazin-2-yl)-4-methylmorpholinium chloride (DMTMM) and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) (Scheme 22). 

Scheme 22 Rapid 1,3-dipolar cydoaddition of nitrile oxides to olefins and acetylenes...

Formation of mixtures of the above type, which is common with internal olefins, do not occur with many functionalized alkenes. Thus, tertiary cinnamates and cinnamides undergo cycloadditions with benzonitrile oxides to give the 5-Ph and 4-Ph regioisomers in a 25-30 75-70 ratio. This result is in contrast to that obtained when methyl cinnamate was used as the dipolarophile (177). 1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to ethyl o -hydroxycinnamate proceeds regiose-lectively to afford the corresponding ethyl fra s-3-aryl-4,5-dihydro-5-(2-hydro-xyphenyl)-4-isoxazolecarboxylates 36 (178). Reaction of 4-[( )-(2-ethoxycarbo-nylvinyl)] coumarin with acetonitrile oxide gives 37 (R = Me) and 38 in 73% and 3% yields, respectively, while reaction of the same dipolarophile with 4-methoxy-benzonitrile oxide affords only 37 (R = 4-MeOCr>H4) (85%) (179). 

The relative rate constants (fe ) do not account for the fact that approach of the nitrile oxide to the 7i-bond can occur from both olefinic diastereofaces with two regioisomeric modes of reaction (Scheme 6.14). In the case of achiral 1-alkenes, only one regioisomer is formed. With chiral dipolarophiles, preference for one of the two is usually found (diastereodifferentiation). The relative diastereofacial reactivity (fejH) is used to evaluate this effect (121). With ethylene, there are four possibilities of attack (two for each face corresponding to the different regio-isomers), and the of each is set as 0.25. In diastereodifferentiating cycloadditions, such as those with a-chiral alkenes, the major isomer generally results... 

Cycloaddition of a nitrile oxide to a substituted olefin can lead to two regio-isomers, the 4- and/or 5-substituted 2-isoxazoline. Reactions of monosubstituted alkenes give the 5-substituted isomers 18 with almost complete regioselectivity (10,15,30,109). This result is also supported by ab initio and FMO calculations (114,119). Change of substituents in the dipole has little effect on the regioselectivity of such reactions when monosubstituted alkenes are used (Table 6.4). 

Cycloaddition of nitrile oxides to 1,2-disubstituted alkenes may give mixtures of two regioisomers (Scheme 6.15) the product ratio (rr) will depend on the substituents present on the olefin. 

As mentioned earlier, the cycloaddition of chiral nitrile oxides to achiral alkenes generally results in poor stereoselection. The cycloaddition of glyceronitrile oxide acetonide and 2-0-benzyl-glyceronitrile oxide to mono-, 1,1-di- and 1,2-disubsti-tuted olefins have been studied most extensively (18,23,121,207,215,221,225,234). 

Talaromycin B is a spiro-acetal produced by the fungus Talaromyces stipitatus, the toxicity of which may be due to its ability to block outward potassium fluxes. In an elegant synthesis, the requisite open-chain polyol with hydroxy groups in the y-and y -positions was assembled from nitrile oxide and olefin building blocks 50 and 51, both of which carry a f>w(hydroxyethyl) moiety protected as a cyclohexanone acetal (284). Hydrogenolysis of the N O bond of isoxazoline 52 using Raney nickel, followed by treatment with aqueous acid, gave the spiroketal 53, which was further transformed into racemic talaromycin B (54) (Scheme 6.54) (284). 

Use of Intermediates from Cycloadditions of Chiral Nitrile Oxides to Chiral Olefins... 

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