The 1,3-Dipolar Cycloadditions of Nitrile Oxides and Nitrile Imines to Alkyl Dicyanoacetates

The readily available alkyl dicyanoacetates 1 reacted with the 1,3-dipolar reagents arenecarbonitrile oxides 2 ′ and arenecarbonitrile imines 5 ′ to afford 1,2,4-oxadiazol and 1,2,4-triazol derivatives. The arenecarbonitrile oxides 2 ′ with electron-donating groups on the arene ring gave products 3a – d resulting from addition on both CN groups of 1 , and those with electron-withdrawing groups provided mono-adducts 4a – e (Scheme 1). Arylnitrile imines 5 ′ reacted with 1 to offer both bis- and mono-addition products (Scheme 2); the bis-adducts 8a , b possess an ester structure, whereas the mono-adducts 6a – d present a ketene-hemiacetal structure.