The chemical features, such as substrate stability, product distribution, and substrate generality, and the reaction mechanism of Brønsted superacid-catalyzed cyclization reactions of aromatic ring-containing acetoacetates (beta-ketoesters) were examined in detail. While two types of carbonyl cyclization are possible, i.e., keto cyclization and ester cyclization, the former was found to take place exclusively. The reaction constitutes an efficient method to synthesize indene and 3,4-dihydronapthalene derivatives. Acid-base titration monitored with (13)C NMR spectroscopy showed that the acetoacetates are fully O(1),O(3)-diprotonated at H(0) = -11. While the five-membered ring cyclization of the arylacetoacetates proceeded slowly at H(0) = -11, a linear increase in the rate of the cyclization was found with increasing acidity in the high acidity region of H(0) = -11.8 to -13.3. Therefore, the O(1),O(3)-diprotonated acetoacetates exhibited some cyclizing reactivity, but they are not the reactive intermediates responsible for the acceleration of the cyclization in the high acidity region. The reactive cationic species might be formed by further protonation (or protosolvation) of the O(1),O(3)-diprotonated acetoacetates; i.e., they may be tricationic species. Thermochemical data on the acid-catalyzed cyclization of the arylacetoacetates showed that the activation energy is decreased significantly as compared with that of the related acid-catalyzed cyclization reaction of a compound bearing a single functional group, such as a ketone. These findings indicate that intervention of the trication contributes to the activation of the cyclization of arylacetoacetates in strong acid, and the electron-withdrawing nature of the O-protonated ester functionality significantly increases the electrophilicity of the ketone moiety.
Although cations with three heteroatoms, such as monoprotonated guanidine and urea, are stabilized by Y-shaped conjugation and such Y-conjugated cations are sufficiently basic to be further protonated (or protosolvated) to dications in strongly acid media, only O-monoprotonated species have been detected in the case of carbamates even in magic acid. We found that the trifluoromethanesulfonic acid-catalyzed cyclization of arylethylcarbamates proceeds to afford dihydroisoquinolones in high yield. In strong acids, methyl carbamates are fully O-monoprotonated, and these monocations do not undergo cyclization even under heating. But, as the acidity of the reaction medium is further increased, the cyclization reaction of methyl phenethylcarbamates starts to proceed as a first-order reaction, with a linear relationship between rate and acidity. The sign and magnitude of the entropy of activation ΔS(‡) were found to be similar to those of other A(Ac)1 reactions. These results strongly support the idea that further protonation of the O-protonated carbamates is involved in the cyclization, but the concentration of the dications is very low and suggests that the rate-determining step is dissociation of methanol from the diprotonated carbamate to generate protonated isocyanate, which reacts with the aromatic ring. Therefore, O-protonated carbamates are weak bases in sharp contrast to other Y-shaped monocations.
We present superacid-catalyzed intramolecular cyclization reactions of arylcyanopropionates to give cyclized five- and six-membered beta-enamino esters in moderate to high yields. Known intramolecular ring-closing reactions of protonated nitrile to aromatic carbon atom are limited to the 6-membered case. Interestingly, a significant synergistic increase of reactivity of the cyano functionality was observed, and the cyano nitrogen atom was converted into an amino group, when an ester group was present in a geminal arrangement. Deuterium exchange experiments excluded the involvement of deprotonation of the alpha-proton in the cyclization process. The acidity dependence of the cyclization reactions and (13)C NMR studies of a model compound, methyl cyanoacetate, in various acidic media were consistent with the involvement of the O, N-diprotonated dication of methyl cyanoacetate, a distonic dication, in strong acid, and this is considered to be the de facto electrophile in the present cyclization reaction of arylcyanopropionates.
o-Quinone methides (o-QMs) are highly reactive, short-lived intermediates, which have potential synthetic applicability. However, few studies on the generation of o-QMs bearing an electronwithdrawing group have been reported. Herein we present a general method for the generation of oQMs, particularly those substituted with an electrophilic substituent, from new precursors, 4H-1,2-benzoxazines 2. We have also studied systematically the Diels-Alder reactions of o-QMs with various dienophiles, such as vinyl ethers, enamines and imines. The reactions provide a versatile route to substituted chromans, phenols and 3,4-dihydro-2H-benzo[e]-A C H T U N G T R E N N U N G [1,3]oxazines (3,4-dihydro-1,3-benzoxazines). Furthermore, we applied the new method to the derivatization of some natural products.
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