Of dienophiles

On the basis of the studies described in the preceding chapters, we anticipated that chelation is a requirement for efficient Lewis-acid catalysis. This notion was confirmed by an investigation of the coordination behaviour of dienophiles 4.11 and 4.12 (Scheme 4.4). In contrast to 4.10, these compounds failed to reveal a significant shift in the UV absorption band maxima in the presence of concentrations up to one molar of copper(ir)nitrate in water. Also the rate of the reaction of these dienophiles with cyclopentadiene was not significantly increased upon addition of copper(II)nitrate or y tterbium(III)triflate. 

The use of dienophile 5.1 also allows study of the effect of micelles on the Lewis-acid catalysed reaction. These studies are described in Section 5.2.2. and represent the first in-depth study of Lewis-acid catalysis in conjunction with micellar catalysis , a combination that has very recently also found application in synthetic organic chemistry . ... 

The Diels-Alder reaction of dienophiles 5.1a-e, containing neutral, cationic or anionic substituents, with diene 5.2 in the absence of Lewis acids is retarded by micelles of CTAB, SDS and C12E7. In the situation where the dienophile does not bind to the micelle, the reaction is inhibited because uptake of... 

Miscellaneous Reactions. Some hydantoin derivatives can serve as precursors of carbonium—immonium electrophiles (57). 5-Alkoxyhydantoins are useful precursors of dienophiles (17), which undergo Diels-Alder cycloadditions under thermal conditions or in the presence of acid catalysis (58). The pyridine ring of Streptonigrine has been constmcted on the basis of this reaction (59). 

Myrcene with its conjugated diene system readily undergoes Diels-Alder reactions with a number of dienophiles. For example, reaction with 3-meth.5i-3-pentene-2-one with a catalytic amount of AlCl gives an intermediate monocyclic ketone, which when cyclized with 85% phosphoric acid produces the bicycHc ketone known as Iso E Super [54464-57-2] (49). The product is useful in providing sandalwood-like and cedarwood-like fragrance ingredients (91). 

For example, the addition of dienophiles to cyclopentadiene usually favors the endo stereoisomer, even though this is the sterically more congested product. 

Fig. 11.13. Coefficients and relative energies of dienophile and diene molecular orbitals. [From K.. N. Houk, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 95 4092 (1973).]...

The use of trifluoromethyl-substituted a-pyrones in Diels-Alder reactions with all types of dienophiles provides an interesting route to trifluoromethyl-benzenes [I/Sj (equation 98)... 

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-... 

The polyene character of 1 /7-azcpines makes them susceptible not only to a variety of electro-cyclic reactions, but also to cycloaddition with a variety of dienophiles, and to dimerization by [6 + 4] 7i-pericyclic reactions. 

The synthesis of this ring system was achieved by the reaction of the ketene aminal 79 with 3-morpholino-l-ethyl-l,2,4-triazinium tetrafluoro-borate 78 to give 80 (89IZV494). Cyclization of 78 with the bifunctional nucleophile 81 gave the pyrrolo[3,2-e][l,2,4]triazinones 82 (88TL1431). This reaction represents the first example of orthocyclization onto the 1,2,4-triazine ring by the addition of dienophiles at C-5,6 (Scheme 20). 

The comparison of rates of cycloaddition of maleic anhydride, tetracyanoethylene, and styrene to PPA shows that the latter, irrespective of the presence of electronegative groups, behaves in these reactions not as an electron-poor diene system. This fact, together with the composition of side products (giving evidence of PPA decarboxylation), allows the assumption to be made that the cycloaddition of dienophiles involves mainly decarboxylated polyene sections of cis-transoid structure213, 266. This is in agreement with the fact that PPA with predominant trans-transoid configuration interacts with these dienophiles at a substantially lower rate. The ultimate amounts of the dienophile combined with PPA of this structure is also considerably smaller. 

While (Z)-l,2-bis(phenylsulfonyl)ethylene (140) does not add to dienes such as furan, cyclopentadiene, cyclo-octatetraene, indene and /f-naphthol, ( )-l,2-bis(phenylsulfonyl)ethylene (141) is more reactive and the reaction with furan proceeds at room temperature for 2 h to give the adduct in 95% yield. The reactivity of dienophiles having sulfonyl group in the [4 + 2]cycloaddition is shown in equation 10393,101. 

The ortho-para rule is explained by FMO theory on the basis of the orbital coefficients of the atoms forming the cr-bonds. The regiochemistry is determined by the overlap of the orbitals that have larger coefficients (larger lobes in Scheme 1.15). The greater the difference between the orbital coefficients of the two end atoms of diene and two atoms of dienophile, which form the two cr-bonds, the more regioselective the cycloaddition. 

Lewis-acid-catalyzed cycloadditions of dienophiles, such as a,/l-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, with open-chain carbon-dienes, are generally highly ortho-para regioselective because the oxygen complexation increases the difference of LUMO coefficients of the alkene moiety. 

The non-preservation of cis stereochemistry of dienophiles 24 and 26 in the adducts 25 and 27 is due to a cis-trans photoisomerization of the double bond and to the concerted suprafacial Diels-Alder cycloaddition of diene to the ground state of trans dienophiles. 

Cycloaddition reactions of 2-vinylindoles 83 with a variety of dienophiles provide a convenient access [85] to carbazoles (Scheme 2.35). 

Tetrahydro-l,l -binaphthalene (bisdialine) (85) is more reactive than the corresponding 1,1 -binaphthalene and has been used as a 47t component of cycloadditions to prepare very complex molecules. An improved method for preparing 85 was recently described [90]. The Diels Alder reactions of 85 with a number of dienophiles were studied [90, 91] and are illustrated in Scheme 2.38. 

Feringa-butenolide 114, in the presence of Dess-Martin periodinane reagent and 2,6-lutidine, gave the bis-ketone 115 which underwent intramolecular cycloaddition to afford endo-selectively the desired decalin-based lactone 116 (Equation 2.32) [114]. Double activation of butenolidic double bond strongly increases the reactivity of dienophile 115. 

The extensive study of Craig and coworkers [116] on the intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions of E- and Z-sulphonyl-substituted deca-, undeca- and dodecatrienes 120 (Figure 2.13) has opened a short route to trans- and cis-bridgehead hydrindanes and decalines and has given new insights into the role of dienophile substitution and geometry in determining the stereochemical outcome of these intramolecular cycloadditions. 

Tetraene 141 has been converted into various complex polycondensed adducts by reacting with a variety of dienophiles such as maleic anhydride, N-phenylmaleimide, N-phenyltriazolinedione,p-benzoquinone and tetracyano-ethylene carried out under thermal conditions. All cycloadditions occurred facial-diastereoselectively from an outside attack and provided monocycloadducts which had an exceptionally close relationship between diene and dieno-phile and then underwent intramolecular cycloaddition [125]. The reaction between 141 and p-benzoquinone is illustrated in Scheme 2.53. 

Ferrocenium hexafluorophosphate (48) and catecholboronbromide (49) (Figure 3.6) are efficient catalysts that have been tested in the cycloadditions of cyclic and acyclic dienes with a variety of dienophiles [48]. Catalyst 48 is less active than 49, but is less corrosive. 

To generate molecular libraries, a series of 5-oxo-2-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octane and triaza analogs were prepared via a stereospecific Diels-Alder reaction by reacting Wang-resin-bound diene 35 with a variety of dienophiles [28]. After removing the solid support with a strong acid, adducts 36 were isolated examples of reactions that have furnished the best yields are reported in Scheme 4.6. 

Luche and coworkers [34] investigated the mechanistic aspects of Diels-Alder reactions of anthracene with either 1,4-benzoquinone or maleic anhydride. The cycloaddition of anthracene with maleic anhydride in DCM is slow under US irradiation in the presence or absence of 5% tris (p-bromophenyl) aminium hexachloroantimonate (the classical Bauld monoelectronic oxidant, TBPA), whereas the Diels Alder reaction of 1,4-benzoquinone with anthracene in DCM under US irradiation at 80 °C is slow in the absence of 5 % TBPA but proceeds very quickly and with high yield at 25 °C in the presence of TBPA. This last cycloaddition is also strongly accelerated when carried out under stirring solely at 0°C with 1% FeCh. The US-promoted Diels Alder reaction in the presence of TBPA has been justified by hypothesizing a mechanism via radical-cation of diene, which is operative if the electronic affinity of dienophile is not too weak. 

Diels-Alder reactions of vinylpyrazoles 45 and 46 only occur with highly reactive dienophiles under severe conditions (8-10 atm, 120-140 °C, several days). MW irradiation in solvent-free conditions also has a beneficial effect [40b] on the reaction time (Scheme 4.11). The indazole 48, present in large amounts in the cycloaddition of 45 with dimethylacetylenedicarboxylate, is the result of an ene reaction of primary Diels-Alder adduct with a second molecule of dienophile followed by two [l,3]-sigmatropic hydrogen shifts [42]. The MW-assisted cycloaddition of 46 with the poorly reactive dienophile ethylphenyl-propiolate (Scheme 4.11) is significant under the classical thermal reaction conditions (140 °C, 6d) only polymerization or decomposition products were detected. 

The chiral catalyst 142 achieves selectivities through a double effect of intramolecular hydrogen binding interaction and attractive tt-tt donor-acceptor interactions in the transition state by a hydroxy aromatic group [88]. The exceptional results of some Diels-Alder reactions of cyclopentadiene with substituted acroleins catalyzed by (R)-142 are reported in Table 4.21. High enantio- and exo selectivity were always obtained. The coordination of a proton to the 2-hydroxyphenyl group with an oxygen of the adjacent B-0 bond in the nonhelical transition state should play an important role both in the exo-endo approach and in the si-re face differentiation of dienophile. 

An alternative strategy for promoting Diels-Alder reaction by proton involves the activation of dienophile by hydrogen bonding [93]. Biphenylene diol 143 (Scheme 4.26) forms doubly hydrogen-bonded complexes with a,j]-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, which strongly accelerate the Diels-Alder... 

Diels-Alder reaction of dienophiles, N-allylic enamides and a,/l-unsaturated lactam derivatives with open chain and inner ring dienes is promoted by iodine [98]. Thus the cycloaddition of N-benzyl-N-methallyl acrylamide 147 with cyclo-pentadiene (1) proceeds smoothly in DMF at —78 °C in the presence of I2 (2 eq.) to give a prevalence of endo adduct l Vd) in 88% yield (Equation 4.17). 

Engberts [3e, f, 9, 29] investigated the influence of metal ions (Co, Ni, Cu +, Zn +) on the reaction rate and diastereoselectivity of Diels-Alder reaction of dienophile 31 (Table 6.5, R = NO2) with cyclopentadiene (32) in water and organic solvents. Relative reaction rates in different media and the catalytic effect of Cu are reported in Table 6.5. 10 m Cu(N03)2 accelerates the reaction in water by 808 times, and when compared with the uncatalyzed reaction in MeCN by a factor of 232 000. 

Enhancement of dienophilic and enophilic reactivity of the giyoxyiic acid by bismuth (III) triflate in the presence of water [28]... 

Scheme 24 Use of PS-anthracene to scavenge excess of dienophiles after a hetero Diels-Alder reaction...

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