| Abstract: | The synthesis of π-substituted heptalenecarboxylates or -dicarboxylates, starting with the easily available dimethyl 9-isopropyl-1, 6-dimethylheptalene-4, 5-dicarboxylate ( 2b ), are described. Treatment of 2b with t-BuOK and C2Cl6 at ?78° leads to the chemoselective introduction of a Cl substituent in Me-C(1) (see 5b in Scheme 1). Formation of the corresponding triphenylphosphonium salt 7b via the iodide 6b (Scheme 2) allowed a Wittig reaction with cinnamaldehyde in the two-phase system CH2Cl2/2N NaOH. Transformation of the 4, 5-dicar-boxylate of 2b into the corresponding pseudo-ester 10b allowed the selective reduction of the carbonyl function at C(4) with DIBAH to yield the corresponding 4-carbaldehyde 11b (Scheme 3). Wittig reaction of 11b with (benzyl) triphenylphosphonium bromide led to the introduction of the 4-phenylbuta-1, 3-dienyl substituent at C(4). The combination of both Wittig reactions led to the synthesis of the 1, 4-bis(4-phenylbuta-1, 3-dienyl)-substituted heptalene-5-carboxylate (all-E)- 17b (Scheme 5). In a similar manner, by applying a Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction, followed by the Wittig reaction, the donor-acceptor substituted heptalene-5-carboxylate (E;E)- 22b was synthesized (Scheme7). Most of these new heptalenes are in solution, at room temperature, in thermal equilibrium with their double-bond shifted (DBS) isomers. In the case of (all-E)- 17b and (E;E)- 22b , irradiation of the thermal equilibrium mixture with light of λ -(439 ± 10) nm led to a strong preponderance ( > 90%) of the DBS isomers 17a and (E;E)- 22a , respectively (Schemes 6 and 7). Heating of the photo-mixtures at 40° re-established quickly the thermal equilibrium mixtures. Heptalenes-carboxylates (all-E)- 17a and (E;E)- 22a which represent the off-state of a 1,4-conjugative switch (CS) system show typical heptalene UV/VIS spectra with a bathochromically shifted heptalene band III and comparably weak heptalene bands II and I which appear only as shoulders (Figs. 4 and 5). In contrast, the DBS isomers (all-E)- 17b and (all-E)- 22b , equivalent to the on-state of a 1,4-CS system, exhibit extremely intense heptalene bands I and, possibly, II which appear as a broad absorption band at 440 and 445 nm, respectively, thus indicating that the CSs (all-E)- 17a ?(all-E)- 17b and (E;E)- 22a ?(E;E)- 22b are perfectly working. |
