Acetalization of 5-hydroxyfuran-2[5H]-one with l-menthol yields (5R)- (1) and (5S)-5-l-menthyloxyfuran-2[5H]-one (2) in equal amounts. The diastereomer 1 crystallizes preferentially. For the first time, the isolation of pure diastereoisomer 2 is reported. Different diastereoselectivities were observed in the radical tandem reaction of 1 and 2 with N,N-dimethylaniline. The privileged conformations in solution of the substrates and the products of the radical reaction were then determined, and X-ray crystal structure analyses were carried out on the reaction products. The different stereoselectivities in both cases are explained by different orientations of the menthyloxy substituent.

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A series of novel carbocations were generated by low-temperature protonation of substituted benzo[c]phenanthrenes, B[c]Phs, and their charge delocalization pathways were elucidated by NMR on the basis of the magnitude of Deltadelta13C values. It has been shown that the protonation regioselectivity is strongly controlled by methoxy and hydroxyl substituents, whose directive effects override methyl substitution effects. Regiocontrol by -OMe and -OH substituents, and its stronger influence relative to methyl groups, was also observed in the nitration and bromination reactions. Charge distribution modes in the regioisomeric protonated carbocations formed via parent B[c]Ph as well as in the benzylic carbocation formed via fjord-region epoxide ring opening were deduced by gauge-invariant atomic orbital density functional theory (GIAO-DFT) and from the natural population analysis (NPA)-derived changes in charges over CHs. These patterns were compared with those derived from NMR experiments in the substituted derivatives. NMR-based charge delocalization mapping provided insight into structure/activity relationships in the methylated and fluorinated B[c]Phs. Regioselectivities observed in the nitration and bromination reactions in representative cases are the same as those via protonations. Among a group of novel nitro and bromo derivatives synthesized in this study are examples, where the nitro group is introduced into the fjord region, for which the X-ray structure could be obtained in one case.

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Perfluoroketene dithioacetals are simple and versatile compounds that can be transformed into a large variety of trifluoromethyl derivatives, in particular aza‐ and thiaheterocycles, perhalodithiocrotonic esters, and fluorinated dithiol thiones. These unsaturated perfluorodithioesters and analogs give interesting polar cycloaddition reactions whose mechanism is strongly influenced by the fluorine substitution. This substitution plays an important role in the reactivity of saturated perfluorodithiocarboxylic acids as well. Except for the carbophilic addition of allyl Grignard reagents to perfluorocarboxamides, a domino thiophilic addition‐fluoride elimination was the main reaction process. Interestingly, a three‐step domino reaction occurs when pentafluorodithioesters are treated with allyl Grignard reagents, the third step being an effective σ[3,3] rearrangement, so that the overall reaction is a formal substitution of an allyl group for the α‐fluorine atom. 2,2‐Bis(allyl)‐3,3,3‐trifluorodithiopropanoates were prepared by performing this domino reaction twice, in a possible one‐pot procedure. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 18:500–508, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/hc.20346

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