Md. Weingarten et al., THEORETICAL INSIGHTS REGARDING THE CYCLOADDITION BEHAVIOR OF PUSH-PULL STABILIZED CARBONYL YLIDES, Journal of organic chemistry, 62(7), 1997, pp. 2001-2010
A series of diazoamido keto eaters were prepared by the reaction of N-
substituted 3-carbethoxy-2-piperidone with n-butylmagnesium chloride f
ollowed by the addition of ethyl 2-diazomalonyl chloride. Treatment of
these diazo amides with rhodium(II) acetate afforded transient push-p
ull carbonyl ylide dipoles which could be readily trapped with electro
n deficient dipolarophiles. All attempts to induce the dipolar cycload
dition to occur across tethered alkenyl pi-bonds failed to give intern
al cycloadducts. However, placing a sp(2) center on the tethered side
chain was found to result in the formation of a tricyclic adduct in 95
% yield. The stereochemistry of the cycloadduct was firmly established
by an X-ray crystallographic study and occurred endo with respect to
the amido carbonyl ylide dipole. A detailed computational study was un
dertaken to provide better insight into the factors that influence the
intramolecular cycloaddition process. The calculations indicate that
a severe cross-ring 1,3-diaxial interaction caused by the bridgehead m
ethyl group promotes a boat or twist-boat conformation in the piperidi
ne ring fused to the newly forming one. The presence of a carbonyl gro
up in the dipolarophile tether helps to relieve the steric congestion
by virtue of favoring a second boat in the latter ring. Without the C=
O group, both nascent and piperidine rings are in the chair conformati
on at lowest energy, and the reaction barrier is disadvantaged by 5.6
kcal/mol, allowing other competing processes to intervene.