Chloroprene ( 2-chlorobuta-1,3-diene; 4b) and electron-rich dienes such as 2-methoxy-(4c), 2-acetoxy-(4d), and 2-(phenylseleno)buta-1,3-diene (4e) refused to equilibrate with the corresponding sultines 5 or 6 between À 80 and À 108 in the presence of excess SO 2 and an acidic promoter. Isoprene (4a) and 2-(triethylsilyl)-(4f), 2-phenyl-(4g), and 2-(2-naphthyl)buta-1,3-diene (4i) underwent the hetero-Diels-Alder additions with SO 2 at low temperature. In contrast, 2-(1-naphthyl)buta-1,2-diene (4h) did not. With dienes 4a, 4g, and 4i, the heteroDiels-Alder additions with SO 2 gave the corresponding 4-substituted sultine 5 with high regioselectivity. In the case of 4g SO 2 >5g, the energy barrier for isomerization of 5g to 5-phenylsultine (6g) was similar to that of the cheletropic addition of 4g to give 3-phenylsulfolene (7g). The hetero-Diels-Alder addition of 4f gave a 1 : 4 mixture of the 4-(triethylsilyl)sultine (5f) and 5-(triethylsilyl)sultine (6f). The preparation of the two new dienes 4h and 4i is reported.
Introduction. ± In the two preceding reports [1] [2], we have demonstrated that the competition between hetero-Diels-Alder and cheletropic additions of sulfur dioxide depends strongly on the nature of the conjugated dienes. At low temperature (À 808) and in the presence of an acidic promoter, SO 2 adds to (E)-1-alkylbuta-1,3-diene (E)-1a giving, in agreement with the endo Alder rule [2], the corresponding cis-6-alkyl-2,6-dihydro-1,2-oxathiin 2-oxides (cis-sultines c-2a), which then equilibrate with their more stable trans-isomers (trans-sultines t-2a) (Scheme 1).