Rp. Claridge et al., THE REACTIONS OF NITROGEN-DIOXIDE WITH DIENES, Journal of the Chemical Society. Perkin transactions. I (Print), (21), 1998, pp. 3523-3528
The reaction of nitrogen dioxide with conjugated dienes (2,5-dimethylh
exa-2,4-diene, hexa-2,4-diene and 2,3-dimethylbuta-1,3-diene) in organ
ic solvents (mainly hexane, benzene and diethyl ether) results mainly
in 1,4-addition giving, with the first two substrates, a mixture of 1,
4-dinitro compounds and 1,4-nitro alcohols. The latter are presumably
formed from hydrolysis of the intermediate nitronitrites. With 2,3-dim
ethylbuta-1,3-diene, only the cis and trans 1,4-dinitro compounds were
isolated. The reactions effectively stop after the addition of two ni
trogen dioxide radicals, only traces of tetrasubstituted products bein
g obtained. With the unconjugated hepta-1,6-diene, addition can be mad
e to occur to both double bonds but, when two equivalents of nitrogen
dioxide are added very slowly, the main products derive from addition
to one double bond and cyclisation to form cis and trans 1,2-bis(nitro
methyl)cyclopentane. All the above reactions give a very complex mixtu
re of products and the product composition depends markedly on the rea
ction conditions; however, with the conjugated dienes, the 1,4-dinitro
compounds can be obtained in yields-of ca. 50%. The crystal Structure
of trans-1,4-dinitro-2,3-dimethylbut-2-ene was determined.