Structural studies on cycloadducts of furan, 2-methoxyfuran, and 5-trimethylsilylcyclopentadiene with maleic anhydride and N-methylmaleimide.

The early stages of the retro-Diels-Alder reaction are clearly apparent in the structures of the cycloadducts formed between furan or 5-trimethylsilylcyclopentadiene with maleic anhydride and N-methylmaleimide. The degree of lengthening of the C-C bonds that break in this reaction is clearly related to the known reactivity of these cycloadducts toward this reaction. In the structures of the cycloadducts 21 and 22 derived from 2-methoxyfuran, the early stages of an alternative fragmentation reaction are apparent, consistent with the reactivity of these compounds in solution.

Structural Investigations into the retro-Diels-Alder Reaction. Experimental and Theoretical Studies.

The manifestations of the retro-Diels Alder reaction in the ground-state structures of a range of cyclopentadiene and cyclohexadiene cycloadducts 9-15 have been investigated by a combination of techniques. These include low-temperature X-ray crystallography, density functional calculations (B3LYP/6-31G(d,p)) on both the ground states and transition states, and the measurement of (13)C-(13)C coupling constants. We have found that the carbon-carbon bonds (labeled bonds a and b), which break in the rDA, are longer in the cycloadducts 9-15 than in their corresponding saturated analogues 9s-15s, which cannot undergo the rDA reaction. The degree of carbon-carbon bond lengthening appears to be related to the reactivity of the cycloadduct, thus the more reactive benzoquinone cycloadducts 5b and 13 have longer carbon-carbon bonds. Those cycloadducts 14 and 15 which are predicted to undergo asynchronous reactions show differing degrees of carbon-carbon bond lengthening, reflecting the differing degrees of bond breaking at the calculated transition states for the rDA.