Seven-membered ring annulation and spiro-annulation processes via preparation and thermal rearrangement of β-(2-vinylcyclopropyl) α,β-unsaturated ketones

Treatment of the β-iodo enones 4 and 26–28 with lithium (phenylthio)(2-vinylcyclopropyl)cuprate (21, mixture of epimers), followed by thermolysis (180 °C, 30–45 min) of the initially formed β-(2-vinylcyclopropyl) enones, provided excellent yields of the seven-membered ring annulation products 25 and 30–32, respectively. In similar fashion, the (E)-2-(iodomethylene)cycloalkanones 8 and 29 were transformed efficiently into the spiro-annulation products 34 and 35 respectively. When compound 36 was treated with bromoform – sodium hydroxide in the presence of a phase-transfer catalyst, the dibromocyclopropane 37 was produced. The latter substance served as the starting material for a sequence of reactions (hydrolysis with hydrochloric acid in methanol, 37 → 38; oxidation with pyridinium chlorochromate, 38 → 39; Wittig reaction with methylenetriphenylphosphorane, 39 → 40; reduction with zinc in acetic acid, 40 → 41) culminating in the stereoselective formation of cis-1-bromo-2,2-dimethyl-3-vinylcyclopropane (41). On the other hand, treatment of compound 37 with n-butyllithium (ether, −90 °C), followed by protonation of the presumed intermediate 43 and hydrolysis of the resultant product 44, provided the bromo alcohol 45 in 70% yield. The latter substance was converted into trans-1-bromo-2,2-dimethyl-3-vinylcyclopropane (47). When the cuprate reagents 42 and 48 (prepared from the bromocyclopropanes 41 and 47, respectively) were allowed to react with the iodo enones 4 and 26, the β-(2-vinylcyclopropyl) α,β-unsaturated ketones 49, 52, 54, and 56 were produced in high yields. The enone 49, upon thermolysis in refluxing n-hexane, underwent facile Cope rearrangement to produce the annulation product 50 quantitatively. In contrast, the homolog 54 was notably resistant to [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement and, upon thermolysis in o-xylene, o-dichlorobenzene, or collidine at elevated temperatures produced, in varying ratios, the Cope rearrangement product 55 and the isomerization product 56. Thermal rearrangement (o-dichlorobenzene, 220 °C, sealed tube) of trans-3-(2,2-dimethyl-3-vinylcyclopropyl)-2-cyclohexen-1-one (52) provided the annulation product 51 (59% yield). In contrast, the corresponding homolog 56, under very similar conditions, produced only a minor amount of the annulation product 55. In this case, the major product (trienone 57) was that resulting from a [1,5]-sigmatropic hydrogen migration (ratio of 55/57 ≈ 1:4).