5 2// -Oxazolones rearrangements

The (Z) isomer (189) of 4-benzylidene-2-phenyl-5(4//)-oxazolone rearranges to the (E) form on irradiation. The photodimerization of compound (190) in solution results in the centrosymmetric cyclobutane derivative (191). A different kind of photodimerization occurs when the oxazolone (192) is irradiated in the solid state, compound (193) being formed (79TL2461, 79TL3139). 

Oxazol-5(2H)-one, 2-benzylidene-4-methyl-tautomerism, 6, 186 Oxazol-5(2ff)-one, 2-methylene-isomerization, 6, 226 Oxazol-5(2H)-one, 2-trifluoromethyl-acylation, 6, 201 Oxazol-5(4ff)-one, 4-allyl-thermal rearrangements, 6, 199 Oxazol-5(4H)-one, 4(arylmethylene)-Friedel-Crafts reactions, 6, 205 geometrical isomerism, 6, 185 Oxazol-5(4ff)-one, 4-benzylidene-2-phenyl-configuration, 6, 185 photorearrangement, 6, 201 Oxazol-5(4ff)-one, 4-benzyl-2-methyl-Friedel-Crafts reactions, 6, 205 Oxazol-5(4ff)-one, 4-methylene-in amino acid synthesis, 6, 203 Oxazol-5(4ff) -one. 2-trifluoromethyl-hydrolysis, 6, 206 Oxazolones... 

Comforth has reviewed literature reports and independently studied the special cases of reaction of 1 with salicylaldehyde and with 2-acetoxybenzaldehyde. Coumarins (10) are afforded in the condensation of 1 with salicylaldehyde or its imine, whereas when 2-acetoxybenzaldehyde is used, acetoxy oxazolone 12 is the major product. The initial aldol condensation product between the oxazolone and 2-acetoxybenzaldehyde is the 4-(a-hydroxybenzyl)oxazolone 11, in which base-catalyzed intramolecular transacetylation is envisioned. The product 9 (R = Ac) can either be acetylated on the phenolic hydroxy group, before or after loss of acetic acid, to yield the oxazolone 12, or it can rearrange, by a second intramolecular process catalyzed by base and acid, to the hydrocoumarin, which loses acetic acid to yield 10. When salicylaldehyde is the starting material, aldol intermediate 9 (R = H) can rearrange directly to a hydrocoumarin. Comforth also accessed pure 4-(2 -hydroxyphenylmethylene)-2-phenyloxazol-5(4//)-one (13) through hydrolysis of 12 with 88% sulfuric acid. 

The hetero ring in 4-(l -hydroxyalkylidene)-5-oxazolones is cleaved by alcoholic HCl to form alkyl a-acylaminoacylacetates, which cyclize to oxazole-4-carboxylates [Eq. (25)]. This rearrangement occurs directly in alkali, and a carbon-14 tracer study has substantiated a mechanism involving ring opening followed by the alternative ring closure. ... 

The conversion of a 4-arylazo-5-oxazolone into a 1,2,4-triazole by reaction with a Grignard reagent is mentioned in Section II, B, 3. In HiTnilar fashion, the rearrangement of compound 30 to derivatives of 3-carboxy-l,5-diphenyl-lfl -l,2,4-triazoles (40) proceeds readily in the presence of strong nucleophiles [Eq. (26)]. This transformation undoubtedly occurs by ring opening and dehydrative cychzation, and, indeed, the acyclic amide and hydrazide 41 have been isolated. ... 

The first syntheses of a-allenic a-amino acids [131,133] took advantage of Steg-lich s [134] protocol for the oxazole-Claisen rearrangement of unsaturated N-ben-zoylamino acid esters (Scheme 18.46). Thus, treatment of the propargylic ester 143 with triphenylphosphine and tetrachlormethane furnished the allenic oxazolone 144, which was converted into the amino acid derivative 145 by methanolysis. Stepwise deprotection finally led to the allenic DOPA analog 146, which shows a much higher decarboxylase-inhibiting activity than a-vinyl- and a-ethynyl-DOPA [133],... 

More /V-acylurea is generated if tertiary amine is present because the latter removes any protons that might prevent the rearrangement (see Section 2.12). The two intramolecular reactions also occur to a greater extent when interaction between the O-acylisourea and the /V-nucleophile is impeded by the side chain of the activated residue. This means that more 2-alkoxy-5(4//)-oxazolone and /V-acylurea are generated when the activated residues are hindered (see Section 1.4). A corollary of the above is that the best way to prepare an /V-acylurea, should it be needed, is to heat... 

The one-pot reaction of the a-(difluoromethyl)-p-sulfinylenamine 70 with trifluoroacetic anhydride in CHCI3, followed by treatment with silica gel affords 4-(difluoromethyl)-5-p-tolylthio-2(3//)-oxazolone 74 (Fig. 5.18). This reaction proceeds via a Pummerer-type rearrangement, followed by [l,3]-proton shift and the simultaneous elimination of trifluoroacetic acid and benzyl alcohol. ... 

The reaction of aliphatic and aromatic ketone oximes 97 with a dialkyl carbonate 98 in the presence of K2CO3 at 180-190 °C yields 3-alkyl-4,5-disubstituted-2(3//)-oxazolones 104 in 22-48% yields. Mechanistically, it is proposed that N-alkylation of the initially formed oxime O-carbonate 99 yields 100, which affords the enamine 101 in the presence of base. A [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement ensues to produce 102, which then cyclizes to 104. In cases where 97 contains two methylene groups in proximity to the C=N bond, one of which is benzylic, the above reaction sequence is regioselective for the benzylic methylene group (Fig. 5.25 Table 5.6, Fig. 5.26). ... 

The UV irradiation of the 2-allyloxy-4,5-diphenyloxazole 41 results in the predominant formation of 5-substituted-2(5/T)-oxazolones 44, in contrast to the thermal aza-Claisen rearrangement which readily affords the 2(3/T)-oxazolones 42. The photolysis proceeds via allyl-O bond scission with the generation of a radical pair that subsequently recombines to produce 5-substituted-2(5/T)-oxazolones. Similar results were obtained with 2-(benzyloxy)-4,5-diphenyloxazole (Fig. 5.75). °... 

Abou-Gharbia and co-workersdescribed a general synthesis of 5,5-diphenyl-2-substituted-4(57f)-oxazolones as an extension of their earlier work. Reaction of diphenylketene with a series of A-acylsulhlimines lOa-d produced an intermediate A-acyl a-lactam that then rearranged to afford lla-d in 56-80% yield (Scheme 6.5). Examples are shown in Table 6.1 (Fig. 6.2). 

Benkovic and co-workers also isolated spirocyclic 2-amino-4(5/7)-oxazolones during their studies on pterin-dependent amino acid hydroxylases (Scheme 6.24). Reaction of 91 with 0-methyl hydroxylamine or semicarbazide at pH 4.8 yielded 92a and 92b, respectively. The authors showed that 92 does not simply result from reaction of the corresponding oxazolidinedione with either reagent. Further, by using H2 0 as the solvent they demonstrated that there was no incorporation into the product. Two different but precedented mechanisms were proposed to account for this rearrangement. The stereochemistry of 92b was confirmed by single-crystal X-ray. 

Mechanistically, the authors proposed initial hydroxylation at C-5 followed by anion formation of the 5-hydroxyl group, attack at C-2 and rearrangement to the 2-amino-4(5//)-oxazolone upon work-up (Scheme 6.31). To support this premise they oxidized 112d to 118, which rearranged to 113d upon exposure to 5% aqueous ammonia at room temperature, consistent with previous work. ... 

TABLE 6.7. BOULTON-KATRITZKY REARRANGEMENT PRODUCTS FROM 5,5-DIMETHYL-2-ETHOXY-4-(p-TOLYLIMINO)-4(5i7)-OXAZOLONE AND HETEROCUMULENES ... 

Some unusual reactions have been described for 2-(4-chlorophenyl)-2-(3,3-dimethylallyl)-4-phenyl-5(277)-oxazolone 84. This compound undergoes a Lewis acid-catalyzed rearrangement to give a tetrahydrofuropyrrole 85. On the other hand, depending on the reaction conditions, thermolysis of 84 produces the azabicyclohexene 86 or a substituted 2,3-dihydropyridine 87 together with the caged compound 88 formed by dimerization of the 2,3-dihydropyridine and the azabicyclohexene (Scheme 7.21). " ... 

In a similar way, propargyl esters of A -benzoyl-a-amino acids have been converted into a-allenyl-a-amino acid esters 113 by cyclization to oxazoles 111 followed by Claisen rearrangement to the 4-allenyl-2-phenyl-5(4//)-oxazolones 112. Oxazolone ring opening with methanol then afforded 113 (Scheme 7.32). ... 

It is known that 5-acyloxyoxazoles 132 rearrange to 4-acyl-5(4/l/)-oxazolones 133 in the presence of 4-(dimethylamino)pyridme or 4-(pyrrohdino)pyridine. Recently, an asymmetric variant of this nucleophUe-catalyzed rearrangement that employs a chiral derivative of 4-(pyrrolidino)pyridine has been described. This procedure allows the construction of quaternary stereocenters with high levels of enantioselectivity (Scheme 7.38). Representative examples of saturated 5(4//)-oxazolones prepared via sigmatropic rearrangements are shown in Table 7.16 (Fig. 7.18). 

TABLE 7.16. SYNTHESIS OF SATURATED 5(4H)-OXAZOLONES VIA SIGMATROPIC REARRANGEMENT OF 5-ALKOXYOXAZOLES... 

In some cases, the product depends on the nature of the acylating agent. Acylation of 182 with 2,2-difluoro-4-pentenoic acid anhydride leads to acylation at C, whereas acylation with 2,2-difluoro-4-pentenoic acid choride yields the 5-acyloxyoxazole 185 as the major compound. The 5-acyloxyoxazole can be rearranged to the 5(47/)-oxazolone 183 upon treatment with 4-(dimethylamino)pyridme. Treatement of 183 with anhydrous oxalic acid promotes decarbonylation to give fluorinated a-amino ketones 184 (Scheme 7.55). Selected examples of 4-acyl-5(4//)-oxazolones are shown in Table 7.20 (Fig. 7.22). 

Heating 4-alkyl-2-substituted-5(477)-oxazolones 287 (Rj = Me, Ph) effects elimination of CO to generate A -acylimines 288 that rearrange to the more stable enamides 289 if an acidic a-hydrogen is present (Scheme 7.94). Representative examples of enamides prepared in this manner are shown in Table 7.25 (Fig. 7.27). 

However, in the presence of a quaternary a-carbon this rearrangement is precluded and the A -acyhmines 288 may be isolated. Finally, pyrolysis of 4,4-dialkyl-5(4f/)-oxazolones affords mixtures of A -acylimines and enamides. The composition of the mixture depends on the pyrolysis temperature. ... 

Oxazolones ° react with fiimarates and fumaronitrile or acrylates to afford the corresponding cycloadducts 302 or 304. These cycloadducts, in turn, rearrange to 303 and 305 depending on the substituents (Scheme 7.100). 

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