A large number of dienes and dienophiles have been employed in the Diels–Alder reaction to produce cyclohexene products with high facial, regio-, stereo-, and enantioselectivity. The reactions work best when the dienophile is substituted with an electron-withdrawing group. However, often in synthesis, the addition of an ethylene unit to a diene is necessary, and the normal cycloaddition with et...

The first transannular [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of macrocyclic dicobalt hexacarbonyl-dienyne complexes were demonstrated. Complexes were conveniently prepared through palladium(II)-catalyzed intramolecular oxidative cyclization of bis(vinylboronate esters) followed by complexation with dicobalt octacarbonyl. Transannular [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of the complexes occurred at lower ...

A one-pot procedure is described for using alpha,beta-unsaturated aldehydes as olefin equivalents in the Diels-Alder reaction. The method combines the normal electron demand cycloaddition with aldehyde dienophiles and the rhodium-catalyzed decarbonylation of aldehydes to afford cyclohexenes with no electron-withdrawing substituents. In this way, the aldehyde group serves as a traceless control ...

Multicomponent reactions allow for more bond-forming events per synthetic operation, enabling more step- and time-economical conversion of simple starting materials to complex and thus value-added targets. These processes invariably require that reactivity be relayed from intermediate to intermediate over several mechanistic steps until a termination event produces the final product. Here, we r...

Ab initio and DFT quantum chemical calculations have been applied to a study of the Diels-Alder reaction of o-benzoquinone as diene and norbornadiene as dienophile. Transition states for the different reactions are located and activation energies estimated. The prefered exo-π-facial selectivity and exo,endo-stereoselectivity exhibited in this cycloaddition are readily predicted using RHF/3-21G ...

Enynes connected through aromatic rings are used as substrates for metathesis reactions. The reactivity of three ruthenium carbene complexes is compared. The resulting 1,3-dienes are suitable precursors of polycyclic structures via a Diels-Alder process. Some domino RCM-Diels-Alder reactions are performed, suggesting a possible beneficial effect of the ruthenium catalyst in the cycloaddition pr...

A formal, metal-free, [2 + 2 + 2] cycloaddition strategy is described based on a cascade of two pericyclic processes. The first step involves an intramolecular propargylic ene reaction of a 1,6-diyne to generate a vinylallene, which then reacts in an inter- or intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction with an alkenyl or alkynyl dienophile. Reactions involving unsymmetrical alkenyl and alkynyl dienoph...

The intrinsic reactivity of eight gaseous, mass-selected 2-azabutadienyl cations toward polar [4(+) + 2] cycloaddition with ethyl vinyl ether has been investigated by pentaquadrupole mass spectrometric experiments. Cycloaddition occurs readily for all the ions and, with the only exception of those from the N-acyl 2-azabutadienyl cations (N-acyliminium ions), the cycloadducts are found to dissoc...