The rhodium(II)-catalyzed formation of 1,3-dipoles has played a major role in facilitating the use of the dipolar cycloaddition reaction in modern organic synthesis. This is apparent from the increasing number of applications of this chemistry for the construction of heterocyclic and natural product ring systems. This chapter initially focuses on those aspects of rhodium(II) catalysis that cont...

A series of cycloalkene-annelated phthalazin-1(2H)-ones (2-5) was prepared in high yields by a one-pot procedure, employing pyridazino[4,5-d]pyridazin-1(2H)-ones (1) as azadienes and cyclic enamines as dienophiles in an inverse-electron-demand Diels-Alder reaction, followed by acid-catalyzed aromatization. Phthalazin-1(2H)-ones bearing a substituent at C-4 represent key intermediates in the syn...

Research into the mechanisms of pericyclic reactions continues at a rapid pace. Many of the studies described below address the factors which influence whether a reaction will proceed via concerted rearrangement or will follow a stepwise alternative. Numerous papers published this year report high-level computational studies undertaken to explain unusual regiochemistry or stereochemistry determ...

The Diels-Alder reaction is a useful tool for generating functionalized chiral molecules through the concerted cycloaddition of dienes and dienophiles leading to six-membered rings. Traditionally, the selective predictions of the products rely heavily on consideration of the secondary orbital interactions that stabilize the endo pathway. However, there remain some basic examples defying this no...

ABSTRACT The Diels-Alder reaction between methyl (Z)-2-nitro-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-2-propenoate and cyclopentadiene yields a mixture of carbodiene Diels-Alder adducts. B3LYP/6-31G(d) simulations indicate that the conversion of addends into methyl (1R*,2S*,3S*,4R*)-2-nitro-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-bicyclo[2.2.1]hept-5-ene-2-carboxylate occurs via two-stage heterodiene Diels-Alder reaction and (in a second ...

In the biosynthetic pathway of the spinosyn insecticides, the tailoring enzyme SpnF performs a [4 + 2] cycloaddition on a 22-membered macrolactone to forge an embedded cyclohexene ring. To learn more about this reaction, which could potentially proceed through a Diels-Alder mechanism, we determined the 1.50-Å-resolution crystal structure of SpnF bound to S-adenosylhomocysteine. This sets the st...

The first successful inverse electron-demand Diels-Alder has been demonstrated with the 2-pyrone methyl coumalate in conjunction with substituted indoles. Utilizing 1-alkyl-3-chloroindoles as the electron-rich dienophile efficiently generates carbazoles without the need for additional metal catalysts. Through a thermal, one-pot Diels-Alder/decarboxylation/elimination domino sequence, access to ...