Two-Carbon Ring Enlargement of Five-, Six-, and Seven-Membered 1-Aza-2-vinylcycloalk-2-enes with Dimethyl Acetylenedicarboxylate and Subsequent Thermal Isomerization Reactions*

2-Aminodienes, in which the enamine function is incorporated in a five-, six-, or seven-membered ring, react with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate in a sequence of [2+2] cycloaddition and electrocyclic ring-opening to form the two-carbon ring expanded unsaturated heterocycles, i.e., 3,4dicarboxylate substituted 6,7-dihydro-1H-azepines 3, 8 and 21, 1,6,7,8-tetrahydroazocines 22, and 6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-1H-azonines 13. Similarly, 2-[(2-thienyl)ethynyl]-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-azepine 9 is converted into 2-[(2-thienyl)ethynyl]-6,7,8,9-1H-azonine-3,4-dicarboxylate 10 which was characterized by X-ray structure determination. The eightand nine-membered azaheterocycles 22 and 13, which have not been isolated, undergo thermal isomerization at elevated temperatures. Thus, ring contraction by a 6π-electrocyclic reaction takes place for N-methyl substituted azonine 13, while the N-allyl moiety of azocines 22 engages in an intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction or a 1,7electrocyclization reaction.