Dialkyl dicyanofumarates and dicyanomaleates as versatile building blocks for synthetic organic chemistry and mechanistic studies

The scope of applications of dialkyl dicyanofumarates and maleates as highly functionalized electron-deficient dipolarophiles, dienophiles and Michael acceptors is summarized. The importance for the studies on reaction mechanisms of cycloadditions is demonstrated. Multistep reactions with 1,2-diamines and β-aminoalcohols leading to diverse five- and six-membered heterocycles are discussed. Applications of dialkyl dicyanofumarates as oxidizing agents in the syntheses of disulfides and diselenides are described. The reactions with metallocenes leading to charge-transfer complexes with magnetic properties are also presented.