Kinetic isotope effects in the thermal C2-C6 cyclization of enyne-allenes: experimental evidence supports a stepwise mechanism

Kinetic isotope effects suggest that the thermal C2-C6 cyclization of enyne-allenes proceeds through a stepwise diradical mechanism. This is even true if steric bulk at the alkyne terminus is large, contrary to theoretical predictions by Engels.     

Oxyanion-accelerated C2-C6 cyclization of benzannulated enyne-allenes

The cyclization of oxyanion-substituted, benzannulated enyne-allenes was found to proceed rapidly and efficiently at room temperature, producing substituted indanones and fluorenones through a C2-C6 cyclization pathway. These reactions bear close resemblance to thermal C2-C6 cyclizations of enyne-allenes previously reported by Schmittel and others, though the oxyanion-substituted cases cyclize far more rapidly, and stand in noteworthy contrast to the C2-C7 (Myers) cyclization of (Z)-1,2,4-heptatrien-6-yne, the parent enyne-allene. The rate of reaction was found to be sensitive to the size of the alkyne and allene substituents, though the electronic effects of substitution are not known. The acceleration imparted by the oxyanion substituent is consistent with the electronic stabilization of a proposed diradicaloid transition state for the C2-C6 cyclization, but the available evidence does not permit the distinction between concerted and stepwise mechanisms. Studies are ongoing to further elucidate the mechanism and expand the scope of these transformations.     

Novel synthesis of 4,5-diarylphenanthrenes via C2-C6 cyclization of benzannulated enyne-allenes.

A new synthetic pathway to the 4,5-diarylphenanthrenes 8 having a helical twist in their structures was developed. The synthetic sequence involves condensation of the diketone 5 with 2 equiv of the lithium acetylides derived from the diacetylenes 4 followed by protonation to produce the propargylic alcohols 6. Reduction of 6 with triethylsilane in the presence of trifluoroacetic acid furnished the tetraacetylenic hydrocarbons 7 in nearly quantitative yields. Treatment of 7 with potassium tert-butoxide under refluxing toluene at 110 degrees C for up to 10 h then furnished the 4,5-diarylphenanthrenes 8. Apparently, the transformation from 7 to 8 involves initial prototropic isomerizations to form the benzannulated enyne-allenes 9. Two subsequent formal intramolecular Diels-Alder reactions via the biradicals 10 and 12 derived from the C(2)-C(6) cyclizations then led to 13, which in turn underwent tautomerizations to give 8. The structure of 8a was established by the X-ray structure analysis, showing that the two phenyl substituents are bent away from each other and the central aromatic system is severely distorted with a helical twist. The existence of a helical twist in 8 imposed by the aryl groups at the 4- and 5-positions was also revealed with a set of AB (1)H NMR signals for the diastereotopic methylene hydrogens on the five-membered rings.     

Thermal C2-C6 cyclization of enyne-carbodiimides: experimental evidence contradicts a diradical and suggests a carbene intermediate

Mechanistic details of the thermal C2-C6 cyclization of enyne-carbodiimides are investigated. A variety of product and kinetic studies on solvent and substituent effects open the way for a deeper mechanistic understanding. Nonlinear Hammett correlations suggest that a change of mechanism takes place: the thermal C2-C6 cyclization of enyne-carbodiimides with electron-withdrawing substituents may be best described as a coarctate cyclization to a carbene and with electron-donating substituents as a polar cyclization to a carbene with strong zwitterionic character. Theoretical investigations had originally suggested a diradical intermediate. DFT computations and NBO analysis for the parent diazafulvenediyl are in agreement with a carbene intermediate. While any intermolecular trapping of the intermediate failed, the formation of the C-H insertion product 19 strongly supports the carbene hypothesis.     

The importance of the ene reaction for the C(2)-C(6) cyclization of enyne-allenes

The present study establishes the ene reaction as a competing reaction mechanism to the diradical mechanism for the thermal C(2)-C(6) cyclization of enyne-allenes which possess bulky substituents at the alkyne terminus. Both reaction routes are found to possess nearly equal free energies of activation. As shown by our computations, primary H/D isotope effects could be used for a definite decision about the mechanism. Concerning the regioselectivity of the cyclization reactions of enyne-allenes our study resolves a long-standing deviation between theoretical results and experimental findings.     

The thermal C2-C6/[2 + 2] cyclisation of enyne-allenes: reversible diradical formation

New enyne-allenes, structurally designed toward the thermal C(2)-C(6)/[2 + 2] cyclisation mode, were prepared and characterised, one of them even by X-ray crystallography. The mechanism of their transformation to formal [2 + 2] cycloadducts was interrogated by trapping experiments and DFT computations. The results support a stepwise mechanism that involves the reversible formation of the C(2)-C(6) diradical intermediate.     

Photochemical C2-C6 cyclization of enyne-allenes: detection of a fulvene triplet diradical in the laser flash photolysis

A series of enyne-allenes, with and without benzannulation at the ene moiety and equipped with aromatic and carbonyl groups as internal triplet sensitizer units at the allene terminus, was synthesized. Both sets, the cyclohexenyne-allenes and benzenyne-allenes, underwent thermal C(2)-C(6) cyclization exclusively to formal ene products. In contrast, the photochemical C(2)-C(6) cyclization of enyne-allenes provided formal Diels-Alder and/or ene products, with higher yields for the benzannulated systems. A raise of the temperature in the photochemical cyclization of enyne-allene 1b' led to increasing amounts of the ene product in relation to that of the formal Diels-Alder product. Laser flash photolysis at 266 and 355 nm as well as triplet quenching studies for 1b,b' indicated that the C(2)-C(6) cyclization proceeds via the triplet manifold. On the basis of a density functional theory (DFT) study, a short-lived transient (tau = 30 ns) was assigned as a triplet allene, while a long-lived transient (tau = 33 micros) insensitive to oxygen was assigned as fulvene triplet diradical. An elucidation of the reaction mechanism using extensive DFT computations allowed rationalization of the experimental product ratio and its temperature dependence.     

Photochemical myers-saito and C2-C6 cyclizations of enyne-allenes: direct detection of intermediates in solution

Several examples of the photochemical Myers-Saito and C2-C6 cyclization of enyne-allenes are described. The presence of a triplet sensitizing unit at the allene terminus and laser flash photolysis results suggest that the cyclization proceeds along the triplet manifold. An intermediate with tau = 33 +/- 5 mus was tentatively assigned to a singlet biradical.     

"Concerted" transition state, stepwise mechanism. Dynamics effects in C2-C6 enyne allene cyclizations

The C2-C6 (Schmittel)/ene cyclization of enyne-allenes is studied by a combination of kinetic isotope effects, theoretical calculations, and dynamics trajectories. For the cyclization of allenol acetate 9, the isotope effect (k(CH3)/k(CD3) is approximately 1.43. The isotope effect is interpreted in terms of a highly asynchronous transition state near the concerted/stepwise boundary. This is supported by density functional theory calculations that locate a highly asynchronous transition structure for the concerted ene reaction. However, calculations of both the experimental system and a model reaction were unable to locate a transition structure for formation of the diradical intermediate of a stepwise mechanism. The stepwise mechanism and the asynchronous concerted mechanism start out geometrically similar, and the two pathways appear to have merged as far as the initial transition structure. For the model reaction, quasiclassical direct dynamics trajectories emanating from the initial transition structure afforded the diradical intermediate in 29 out of 101 trajectories. A large portion of the remaining trajectories completes hydrogen transfer before carbon-carbon bond formation, despite the advanced carbon-carbon bond formation in the asynchronous transition structure. Overall, the single minimum-energy path from starting material to product is inadequate to describe the reaction, and a consideration of dynamic effects is necessary to understand the mechanism. The implications of these observations toward questions of concert in other reactions are discussed.     

Type-2 isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase: evidence for a stepwise mechanism

Isopentenyl diphosphate isomerase (IDI) catalyzes the interconversion of isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP). These two molecules are the building blocks for construction of isoprenoid carbon skeletons in nature. Two structurally unrelated forms of IDI are known. A variety of studies support a proton addition/proton elimination mechanism for both enzymes. During studies with Thermus thermophilus IDI-2, we discovered that the olefinic hydrogens of a vinyl thiomethyl analogue of isopentenyl diphosphate exchanged with solvent when the enzyme was incubated with D(2)O without concomitant isomerization of the double bond. These results suggest that the enzyme-catalyzed isomerization reaction is not concerted.     

Silicon-directed oxa-Pictet-Spengler cyclization and an unusual dimerization of 2-trimethylsilanyl tryptophols

The tetrahydro-pyrano[3,4-b]indoles 6 were synthesized from 2-(2-trimethylsilanyl-1H-indol-3-yl)-ethanols 5 and various ketones or aldehydes through silicon-directed oxa-Pictet-Spengler cyclizations. An unusual reaction led to the dimeric products 7 when some of 5 was treated with acetone using BF(3) as the catalyst.     

DFT evidence for a stepwise mechanism in the O-neophyl rearrangement of 1,1-diarylalkoxyl radicals

Hybrid DFT calculations of the potential energy surface (PES) relative to the O-neophyl rearrangement of a series of ring-substituted 1,1-diarylalkoxyl radicals have been carried out at the UB3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory. On the basis of the computational data, the rearrangement can be described as a consecutive reaction of the type a <--/--> b --> c (see above graphic), and the steady-state approximation could be applied in all cases to the intermediate b. The first-order rearrangement rate constants [kobs = k1k2/(k-1 + k2)] were thus obtained from the computed activation free-energies and were compared with the experimental rate constants measured previously in MeCN solution by laser flash photolysis. An excellent agreement is observed along the two series, which strongly supports the hypothesis that the O-neophyl rearrangement of 1,1-diarylalkoxyl radicals proceeds through the formation of the reactive 1-oxaspiro [2,5]octadienyl radical intermediate. This is in contrast to previous hypotheses that involve either a long-lived intermediate or the absence of this intermediate along the reaction path. The calculated rearrangement free-energies decrease upon going from the methoxy-substituted radical (Delta G degrees = -16.4 kcal x mol-1) to the nitro-substituted one (Delta G degrees = -21.8 kcal x mol-1), which follows a trend that is similar to the one observed for the CAr-O bond dissociation enthalpies (BDEs) of ring-substituted anisoles. This evidence indicates that in the O-neophyl rearrangement the effect of ring substituents on the strength of the newly formed CAr-O bond plays an important role.     

Experimental and theoretical evidence for U(C6H6) and Th(C6H6) complexes

The vibrational spectra of UBz and ThBz have been measured in solid argon. Complementary quantum chemical calculations have allowed the assignments of the vibrational spectra. According to the calculations, AcBz are stable molecules, as well as other species like BzAcBz and BzAc2Bz. Experimentally, there is no evidence for the sandwich compounds BzAcBz and BzAc2Bz due to the limitations in the reagent concentrations.     

Compelling evidence for a stepwise mechanism of the alkaline cyclisation of uridine 3'-phosphate esters

A Bronsted graph with a convex break at pK(a)(Lg)= 12.58 provides compelling evidence for an intermediate in the alkaline cyclisation of uridine 3'-phosphate esters. The transient pentacoordinated oxyphosphorane dianion intermediate collapses to reactant and cyclic uridine 2',3'-monophosphate faster than it can pseudo-rotate and isomerise to the 2'-isomer.     

Pectenotoxin-2 synthetic studies. 3. Assessment of the capacity for stereocontrolled cyclization to form the entire C1-C26 subunit based upon the double bond geometry across C15-C16

Second-generation synthetic routes to enantiopure sulfone 21 and aldehyde 24 are described. The union of these two intermediates by means of a Julia-Kocienski coupling gave rise to a series of E-configured building blocks that did not prove amenable to transannular cyclization. Alternatively, when the C15-C16 double bond was introduced with Z-geometry by Wittig olefination, spontaneous closure to generate a tetrahydrofuran culminated an ensuing direct dihydroxylation step. The structural assignment to 35, undergirded by detailed 1H and 13C NMR studies, is consistent with proper transannular bonding so as to deliver the entire C1-C26 fragment of PTX2.     

Chemical and transient spectroscopic evidence for C2-C3 cleavage of 2,3-diaryloxetane radical cations

Electron transfer cycloreversion of the methoxy substituted oxetane 1b results in the production of trans-anethole and benzaldehyde through C2-C3 bond cleavage. trans-Anethole radical cation has been detected as transient intermediate by laser flash photolysis.     

Development of a Method for Determination of Volatile Organic Compounds (C6-C9) by Thermal Desorption-Gas Chromatography. Application to Urban and Rural Atmospheres.

ABSTRACT

An analytical method for the determination of 15 Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC): benzene, n-heptane, toluene, n-octane, chlorobenzene, ethylbenzene, m-xylene, o-xylene, p-xylene, isopropylbenzene, n-propylbenzene, n-decane, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, 1,3-dichlorobenzene and 1,2-dichlorobenzene, by thermal desorption coupled with gas chromatography (GC) was proposed. The flame ionisation detector (FID) and mass spectrometry (MS) detector were used. The variables that have an influence on the desorption process (time, inert gas flow and temperature) were studied, obtaining detection limit ranges from 15 to 120 pg (GC-FID), 3.8 to 32 pg (GC-MS, SIM mode) and 15 to 300 pg (GC-MS, SCAN mode). In order to detect possible VOC urban sources, samples were taken from 6 points in A Coruña (N.W. Spain) to analyse. Sampling time and flow rate were 30 minutes and 50 mL/min respectively. VOC profile and their total concentrations can be considered as typical of an urban area. Other samples were also obtained from a nearly rural zone to determine the influence of these VOC sources.