Sigmatropic reactions, solvent effects

The Claisen rearrangement is an electrocyclic reaction which converts an allyl vinyl ether into a y,8-unsaturated aldehyde or ketone, via a (3.3) sigmatropic shift. The rate of this reaction can be largely increased in polar solvents. Several works have addressed the study of the reaction mechanism and the electronic structure of the transition state (TS) by examining substituent and solvent effects on the rate of this reaction. 

This aggregation of organic molecules in water actually leads to accelerated rates for some organic reactions in water. Diels-Alder and other sigmatropic reactions work very well in water, despite not being soluble or miscible in that solvent. This effect is discussed further in Chapter 7. 

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. 

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