Reversal of diastereoselectivities in intra- and intermolecular reactions of 2-adamantanylidenes primarily caused by electron-donating and electron- withdrawing substituents on C5

Photoelimination of nitrogen from adamantane and pentacycloundecane (PCU) diazirines: a spectroscopic study and supramolecular control

Photochemical reactivity of pentacycloundecane (PCU) and adamantane diazirines was investigated by preparative irradiation in different solvents, laser flash photolysis (LFP) and quantum chemical computations. In addition, formation of inclusion complexes for diazirines with cucurbit[7]uril, β- and γ-cyclodextrin (β- and γ-CD) was investigated by 1H NMR spectroscopy, isothermal microcalorimetry and circular dichroism spectroscopy, followed by the investigation of photochemical reactivity of the formed complexes. Diazirines undergo efficient photochemical elimination of nitrogen (ΦR > 0.5) and deliver the corresponding singlet carbenes. Singlet carbenes react in intra- and intermolecular reactions and we found a rare singlet carbene pathway in CH3OH involving protonation and formation of a carbocation, detected due to the specific rearrangement of the pentacycloundecane skeleton. Singlet diazirines undergo intersystem crossing and deliver triplet carbenes that react with oxygen to form ketones which were isolated after irradiation. Our main finding is that the formation of diazirine inclusion complexes with β-CD and γ-CD changes the relative ratio of singlet vs. triplet pathways, with singlet carbene products being dominant from the chemistry of the irradiated complexes. Our combined theoretical and experimental studies provide new insights into the supramolecular control of carbene reactivity which has possible applications for the control of product distribution by solvent effects and the choice of constrained media.

Foiled Carbenes Revisited: When σ-Stabilization Surpasses π-Stabilization

The bicyclic alkenylidenes 9 (bicyclo[3.2.1]oct-2-en-8-ylidene) and 17 (bicyclo[3.3.1]non-2-en-9-ylidene) were claimed to be stabilized foiled carbenes. Our B3LYP and MP2 computations confirm previous experimental data. Moreover, they show that these carbenes are very reactive and rearrange rapidly, mainly through a 1,2-vinyl shift by overcoming a low barrier (1.2 to 5.4 kcal/mol). This is in contrast to the high barriers (up to 30 kcal/mol) predicted for the same type of rearrangements in norborn-2-en-7-ylidene derivatives. In 17 and bicyclo[4.1.1]oct-2-en-7-ylidene (23), the divalent carbon atom is even bent away from the double bond!

Reactions of endo-3-Diazotricyclo[3.2.1.02,4]oct-6-ene, a Potential Precursor for the Generation of a Neutral C8H8 Molecule with a Pyramidally Coordinated Carbon

endo-3-Diazotricyclo[3.2.1.0(2,4)]oct-6-ene (endo-6) has already been prepared in solution. According to B3LYP/6-311+G(d,p) computations, the corresponding carbene endo-7 easily produces the highly strained neutral C8H8 compound 4 comprising a pyramidally tetracoordinated carbon which then rearranges to bridgehead alkene 15 through a cascade of rearrangements. Nonplanar diazocyclopropane structures are predicted for endo- and exo-6. Furthermore, their ring-opened isomers 27 are the first representatives of a new class of non-Kekulé compounds, the diazoallyls.

One-Pot Synthesis of Adamantane Derivatives by Domino Michael Reactions from Ethyl 2,4-Dioxocyclohexanecarboxylate

Adamantane derivatives were constructed by the one-pot reaction of ethyl 2,4-dioxocyclohexanecarboxylate with 2-phenylethyl 2-(acetoxymethyl)acrylate or 2-(acetoxymethyl)-1-phenyl-2-propen-1-one via domino Michael reactions and a Dieckmann condensation or an aldol-type reaction (four-bond formation). This is the first one-pot construction of adamantane derivatives from cyclohexanone derivatives not involving enamines.

Origin of Stereochemical Reversal in Meyers-Type Enolate Alkylations. Importance of Intramolecular Li Coordination and Solvent Effects

[reaction: see text] The origin of exclusive exo-stereochemistry in the alkylation of Meyers-type enolate 2 has been studied. It was found that the intramolecular complex with a strong Li...O(ring) interaction (the O-complex) may be responsible as the major enolate species in tetrahydrofuran (THF). The transition state of the O-complex leading to exo-stereochemistry is found to be the most favorable process in THF.

Origin of facial diastereoselection. Evidence for negative role of antiperiplanar hyperconjugation effects in the transition state of carbene insertion

[reaction: see text] Quantitative analysis of the transition state (TS) structures of the insertion reactions of 5-X-2-adamantanylidenes (X = H, OH, NH(2), SiMe(3)) into MeOH or cyclohexane revealed that the magnitude of antiperiplanar hyperconjugative stabilization involving the incipient bond effects (the AP effect) decrease at TS, strongly suggesting that the AP effect contributes "net destabilization" of TS (i.e., increase in activation energy), in sharp contrast to the proposals of the Felkin-Anh and the Cieplak models. The equilibrium population between two carbene bridge-flipping proximal-distal conformers was found to be the origin of facial diastereoselection of these carbenes.