H i g h l y b r o m i n a t e d N o r b o r n a n e s b y P h o t o b r o m i n a t i o nAbstract: An efficient synthesis is described for hexabromonorbornane by photobromination of norbornadiene. Double dehydrobromination of the hexabromide by t-BuOK affords in high yield 2,3,5,6-tetrabromonorbornadiene, its copper-assisted treatment with sodium methoxide leads to the 2,3,5,6-tetramethoxy derivative. The tetrabromide constitutes a valuable precursor for the preparation of functionalized tetrasubstituted norbornadienes.When norbornadiene is converted photochemically to the higher-energy quadricyclane, the stored energy may be released by reverting catalytically the strained quadricyclane to its norbornadiene. Since norbornadiene itself does not undergo efficient valence isomerization upon direct and/or sensitized irradiation, norbornadienes with appropriate chromophores have been synthesized and their photoisomerization examined. 1 In this context, tetrasubstituted norbornadienes have attracted considerable attention because their quadricyclanes may serve as potential solar-energy storage cells, but a convenient preparation of such norbornadienes is still lacking. 2 In particular, the 2,3,5,6-tetrasubstituted norbornadienes should be of interest, but their preparation has been to date quite difficult. In addition, substituted norbornadienes have served as key intermediates in the synthesis of natural products such as the prostaglandin endoperoxides PGH 2 and PGG 2 , 3 cis-trikentrin, 4 and B-santalol. 5Most literature syntheses of 2,3,5,6-tetrasubstituted norbornadienes rely on the Diels-Alder reaction between cyclopentadienes and highly activated acetylenes. Unactivated acetylenes are poor dienophiles, which limits the type of norbornadienes accessible by this method to derivatives with electron-withdrawing groups.Recently, we have succeeded in the preparation of 2,3,5,6-tetrabromonorbornane 3 by the selective bromination of norbornadiene 1 and we have developed a synthetic method for dibromonorbornadienes by dehydrobromination of the tetrabromide 3. 6 It was our intention to employ the exhaustive photobromination of norbornadiene to obtain still higher brominated norbornanes and norbornadienes. Presently, we report an effective and convenient procedure for the synthesis of 2,3,5,6-tetrabromonorbornadiene and demonstrate its value as precursor to the corresponding tetramethoxy-substituted derivative.The bromination of norbornadiene at the reflux temperature of CCl 4 afforded the two diastereomeric 3,5-dibromonortricyclanes 2 and the three diastereomeric 2,3,5,6-tetrabromonorbornanes 3, which were readily separated by fractional distillation in 40% and 54% yields (Scheme). 6 The subsequent photobrominations were performed in CCl 4 by irradiation with a projector lamp (250 W, visible light) in an immersion photochemical apparatus. 7The photobromination of the diastereomeric mixture of 3,5-dibromonortricyclane 2 with one or two equivalents of bromine at room temperature in CCl 4 resulted in a complex reaction mixtu...