Unkatalysierte sigmatrope 1,5-Wanderung von Acylgruppen bei der Thermolyse von 5-Acyl-5-methyl-1,3-cyclohexadienen

Uncatalyzed Sigmatropic 1,5-Shift of Acyl Groups in the Thermolysis of 5-Acyl-5-methyl-1,3-cyclohexadienes Four different 5-acyl-5-methyl-1,3-cyclohexadienes 1a–d (R = COOCH₃, COCH₃, COC₆H₅, CHO) have been shown to yield mixtures of 1,3-disubstituted cyclohexadienes 2–7 and 1,3-disubstituted aromatic product 8 upon thermolysis at 150–300° in solution and at 350–500° in the gas phase in a flow system. Two reaction pathways (A and B in Scheme 2) are considered for the rearrangement of the C-Skeleton. For the ester 1a ¹³C-isotopic substitution shows that products arise to 75–86% through a 1,5-sigmatropic shift of the methoxycarbonyl group ( A in Scheme 2) and to 14–25% through a sequence of reaction steps involving a 1,7-H-shift reaction in an acyclic intermediate ( B in Scheme 2). For the more reactive compounds 1b–d isomerization is assumed to follow the 1,5-sigmatropic pathway exclusively ( A in Scheme 2). A kinetic study yields the following sequence for the migration tendency of acyl groups toward sigmatropic 1,5-shift: COOCH₃ < COCH₃ < COC₆H₅ < CHO.