13C magnetic resonance studies. 131. An examination of β-enolization in an unsaturated [3.2.1] system: 3,3-dimethylbicyclo[3.2.1]oct-6-en-2-one
Under homoenolization conditions (t-BuO−/t-BuOH/185 °C), 3,3-dimethylbicyclo[3.2.1]oct-6-en-2-one (5) is converted into six products through three reaction pathways. The major product, 3,3-dimethylbicyclo[3.3.0]octan-2-one, arises by unidirectional β-enolate rearrangement of 5 to the isomeric unsaturated [3.3.0] ketones, which (a) undergo efficient reduction to 2, by single electron transfer, and (b) suffer Haller–Bauer cleavage to two isomeric 2,2-dimethyl-3-cyclopentenylpropanoic acids. In competition with these processes is the reversible conjugate addition of t-BuO− to 5 to furnish the 6-tert-butoxy derivative, which undergoes β-enolate rearrangement to two isomeric ketones. The structures of these products were established primarily from their 1H and 13C magnetic resonance spectra.