Intramolecular thermal reactions

Four different types of (2 + 2)-cycloaddition and -cycloreversion reactions of heterocyclic compounds are known intermolecular and intramolecular reactions, both thermal and photochemical. Three of these have already been discussed in the previous sections on (2 + 2)-cycloadditions, and as far as the mechanism is concerned both the forward and the reverse reaction suffer from the same ambiguity Do they proceed via a concerted or a nonconcerted mechanism do they involve an ionic or a diradical intermediate are they symmetry-allowed or forbidden So far only one reaction type is known to be limited to the reverse reaction, viz., the thermal intramolecular reaction [Eq. (10)], in which one o-bond is broken and a conjugated -electron system is... 

The Diels-Alder reaction is a thermal cycloaddition involving 1,3-dienes and alkenes, and [3+21-cyclo-addition reactions involve a Ji bond and a 1,3-dipole. The Cope, oxy-Cope, and Claisen rearrangements are thermal, intramolecular reactions of 1,5-dienes. [2+2]-Cycloadditions usually involve reaction between two alkenes, or certainly two Ji bonds. A reaction that is different from any seen so far occurs with certain alkenes and allylic systems. In its fundamental form, it is "the indirect substituting of a compound with a double bond... 

The ene reaction as a reaction principle has been first recognized and systematically investigated by Alder It is a thermal addition reaction of a double bond species 2—the enophile—and an alkene 1—the ene—that has at least one allylic hydrogen. The intramolecular variant is of greater synthetic importance than is the intermolecular reaction. 

A sequence of two thermal intramolecular cycloadditions has been used to develop a short synthetic approach to tetrahydrothiopyrans [122], The multiple process includes an m m-hetero- and an intramolecular-carbon Diels-Alder reaction. An intramolecular /zctcro-Diels-Alder reaction of divinyl-thioketone 134 afforded a 9 1 mixture of cycloadducts 135 and 136 which then underwent a second intramolecular cycloaddition which syn o H-2)-exo-diastereoselectively led to hexacyclic tetrahydrothiopyrans 137 and 138, respectively (Scheme 2.51). 

The Alder-ene reaction has traditionally been performed under thermal conditions—generally at temperatures in excess of 200 °C. Transition metal catalysis not only maintains the attractive atom-economical feature of the Alder-ene reaction, but also allows for regiocontrol and, in many cases, stereoselectivity. A multitude of transition metal complexes has shown the ability to catalyze the intramolecular Alder-ene reaction. Each possesses a unique reactivity that is reflected in the diversity of carbocyclic and heterocyclic products accessible via the transition metal-catalyzed intramolecular Alder-ene reaction. Presumably for these reasons, investigation of the thermal Alder-ene reaction seems to have stopped almost completely. For example, more than 40 papers pertaining to the transition metal-catalyzed intramolecular Alder-ene reaction have been published over the last decade. In the process of writing this review, we encountered only three recent examples of the thermal intramolecular Alder-ene reaction, two of which were applications to the synthesis of biologically relevant compounds (see Section 10.12.6). 

A thermal intramolecular allene 1,2-diazine Diels-Alder reaction proceeded at 160 °C to afford indole derivatives [158],... 

Concurrently, two other approaches to isocomene made their appearance. The first of these due to Oppolzer, et al., features as its key step an intramolecular thermal ene reaction which converts 734 to 735 (Scheme LXXXI). Another point of... 

Oppolzer has designed two approaches to modhephene, both of which are based on the high level of stereochemical control attainable in intramolecular thermal ene reactions. In the first (Scheme XCIV), a, jJ-unsaturated ketone 793 is obtained by aldol methodology and heated at 250 °C in toluene to produce 794 A methyl group and double bond are next introduced in standard fashion prior to arrival at the final sesquiterpene stage. 

Although thermal [2 + 2] cycloadditions are forbidden as concerted reactions by the orbital symmetry conservation rules the same structural features which promote intermolecular cy-cioadditions will also promote intramolecular reactions. In addition, the proximity between two alkene moieties dictated by the tether length and rigidity would make these processes entropically favorable. A few reports have documented thermal intramolecular cycloadditions to cyclopropenes and activated alkenes. The thermal Cope rearrangement of allylcyclopropenes apparently proceeds by a two-step mechanism in which intramolecular [2 + 2] adducts have been observed.72-73... 

The anti-Markownlkov orientation of addition in the presence of electron-acceptor sensitizers applies also to intramolecular reaction, and 5,5-dipheny pent-4-en-1-ol gives a tetrahydrofuran (2.SI) when irradiated in solution with 9,10-dicyanoanthracene, whereas its thermal reaction under proton-acid catalysis leads to 2,2-diphenyltetrahydropyran by Markownikov addition. Sometimes an added sensitizer is not required, if the alkene itself can act as a good electron-donor or electron-acceptor, and this is likely to be the reason why 1-lo-methoxyphenyl)propene adds photochemically to acetic acid (2.52), whereas l-phenylpropene does not. 

Intramolecular ene reaction of 1,7-dienes.1 The ZnBr2-catalyzed reaction of the activated 1,7-diene 1 gives the frans-disubstituted cyclohexane 2 (>98% selectivity.) Under the same conditions, the chiral 1,7-diene 3 [from (R)-citronellal] is converted into two diastereomeric frww-disubstituted cyclohexanes, 4 and 5 in the ratio 96.5 3.5. Slightly higher diastereoselectivity obtains with (C2H5)2A1C1 (96% de), but the thermal ene reaction gives 4 and 5 in the ratio 86 14. 

Alkynes are poor dienophiles in the Diels- Alder reaction decomposition occurs by an attempted thermal intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction of dienynes at 160 °C. In contrast, the Ni-catalysed [4+2] cycloaddition of the dienyne 50 proceeded smoothly at room temperature using tri(hexafluoro)isopropyl phosphite to give 51, which was converted to the yohimbine skeleton 52 [15]. The same reaction is catalysed by RhCl(Ph3P)3 in trifluoroethanol [16]. Intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions of the 6,8-dieneyne 53 and the 1,3,8-triene 55, efficiently catalysed by [Rh(dppe)(CH2CH2)2]SbF6 at room temperature, gave 54 and 56 [17],... 

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