The sodium salt of dimethyl 1,3-acetonedicarboxylate
(1) readily reacts with certain alkynals under
mild conditions in THF to give a tetrasubstituted aromatic ring with
regiocontrol at the meta-position through a Michael addition−aldol cyclization sequence.
Thus the reaction of I with
propynal, 2-butynal, 2-pentynal, 2-octynal, 4-(benzoyloxy)-2-butynal,
and 4-((tetrahydropyranyl)oxy)-2-butynal at 25 °C gave the following products: dimethyl
2-hydroxybenzene-1,3-dicarboxylate
(11%), dimethyl 2-hydroxy-4-methylbenzene-1,3-dicarboxylate (45%),
dimethyl 4-ethyl-2-hydroxybenzene-1,3-dicarboxylate (46%), dimethyl
2-hydroxy-4-pentylbenzene-1,3-dicarboxylate (42%),
dimethyl
2-hydroxy-4-((pivaloyloxy)methyl)benzene-1,3-dicarboxylate
(88%), dimethyl 2-hydroxy-4-((benzoyloxy)methyl)benzene-1,3-dicarboxylate (74%), and
dimethyl 2-hydroxy-4-(((tetrahydropyranyl)oxy)methyl)benzene-1,3-dicarboxylate
(70%).