The six-membered cyclic allenes given in the title have been studied theoretically by means of an MR-CI approach. For all compounds, the allene structures were found to be the ground states in the gas phase. In the cases of cyclohexa-1,2-diene (1), the isobenzene 2, and the isonaphthalene 7, the most stable structures having a planar allene moiety are the diradicals 1b, 2b, and 7b, representing the transition states for the racemization of 1a, 2a, and 7a and being less stable than the latter by 14.1, 8.9, and 11.2 kcal/mol, respectively. At variance with this order, the 3delta(2)-pyran 4 and the chromene 5 have the zwitterions 4c and 5c as the most stable planar structures, which lie only 1.0 and 5.4 kcal/mol above 4a and 5a, respectively. According to the simulation of the solvent effect, 4c even becomes the ground state of 4 in THF solution. The frontier orbitals of the respective states of 2 and 4 suggest different rates and sites for the reaction with nucleophiles. For the first time, the pyran 4 has been generated and trapped. As a precursor for 4, 3-bromo-4H-pyran (9) was chosen, the synthesis of which was achieved on two routes from 4H-pyran. The treatment of 9 with potassium tert-butoxide (KOt-Bu)/18-crown-6 gave 4-tert-butoxy-4H-pyran as the only discernible product, whether styrene or furan was present, indicating the interception of 4 by KOt-Bu. Finally, the disagreement between the experiment and the theory concerning the heat of formation and the electronic nature of the isobenzene 2 is resolved by demonstrating that the experimental data can provide only an upper limit of the DeltaH(f) degrees value.

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Treatment of the pure enantiomer 1 with methyllithium furnishes via cycloallene 2 its dimer 3 with high selectivity. In contrast, racemic 1 yielded only 5 % of 3 and 95 % of the cis isomer of 3. Thus, racemic 2 is an example of molecular recognition of remarkable selectivity.

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Keywords: CD spectra / Cycloadditions / Cyclic allenes / Enantioselectivity / Quantum chemistry calculationsThe bromofluorocarbene adduct rac-1 of indene, possessing the fluorine atom at the endo position, is a useful substrate for the generation of the isonaphthalene 4 by the DoeringMoore-Skattebøl reaction. By resolution of rac-1, an enantiomerically pure precursor of a six-membered cyclic allene was obtained for the first time. The treatment of (+)-or (-)-1, dissolved in 2,5-dimethyl-, 2-tert-butyl-5-methyl-, or 2,5-bis-(tert-butyl)furan, with methyllithium gave rise to the [4+2] cycloadducts 6 of 4 to the furans. It was shown by means of HPLC on Chiralcel OD that the formation of 6 proceeded with about 40 % ee, and that this value was independent of the type and concentration of the furan, and the reaction temperature. The absolute configurations of the enantiomers 1, as well as those of the enantiomers 6, were determined by simulation of the CD spectra by quantum chemical methods and by the comparison of them with the experimental spectra. In the case of (+)-1, the reliability of this procedure was checked by X-ray crystal structure analysis. On the basis of