Russian Federation. Far: +7 (095) 954 I279Reactions of different cyclopentadienes with phorone were studied, Nonsubstituted and monosubstituted cyclopentadienes form annelation products, viz., 4,4,8,g-tetramethyl-1,3a,4,5.6,7,8.Sa-octa hydroazulen-6-ones.Key words: cyclopentadienes, intermolecular cyclization. Michael addition, azulenones.Recently. I-3 we have studied the reactions of cyclopentadienes and indenes with carbonyl compounds in alkali--aprotic polar solvent systems. It was demonstrated that the two-phase KOH--l.2-dimethoxyethane (DME) mixture is the most efficient system. A wide range of substituted bis(cyclopentadienyl)-and bis(indenyl)methanes were prepared in satisfactory yields with the use of this system. Unexpectedly. z in the reactions of 1,3-dimethylcyclopentadiene (1) and I-methyl-3-phenytcyclopentadiene (2) with acetone, spiro compounds 3 and 4, respectively, rather than the target bis(cyclopentadienyl)methanes were formed as the major products. We suggested that under alkaline conditions, acetone undergoes partial trimerization to form phorone, which reacts with disubstituted cyclopentadienes yielding spiro compounds (Scheme t).To verify this suggestion, we studied the reactions of different cyclopentadienes with phorone under standard conditions (KOH--DME). The results of this investigation are reported in the present work.
Results and DiscussionThe reactions of 1,3-dimethyl-and l-methyl-3-phenytcyclopentadiene (1 and 2, respectively) with phorone, like the reactions with acetone, afforded compounds 3 and 4, respectively. The yields of these products were low, 5--10% (t_he..yields were estimated from the analysis of the I H NMR spectra of the reaction mixtures, viz., from the integrated intensities of the characteristic signals for the methylene fragments of compounds 3 and 4).The reactions of unsubstituted cyclopentadiene (5), methylcyclopentadiene (6), and tert-butylcyclopentadiene (7) with phorone (Scheme 2) gave ketones 8, 10, and