Photoaddition of ketones to imidazoles, thiazoles, isothiazoles and isoxazoles. Synthesis of their oxetanes

A Paternò-Büchi Reaction of Aromatics with Quinones under Visible Light Irradiation

Reported herein is a Paternò-Büchi reaction of aromatic double bonds with quinones under visible light irradiation. The reactions of aromatics with quinones exposed to blue LED irradiation yielded oxetanes at -78 °C, which was attributed to both the activation of double bonds in aromatics and the stabilization of oxetanes by thiadiazole, oxadiazole, or selenadiazole groups. The addition of Cu(OTf)2 to the reaction system at room temperature resulted in the formation of diaryl ethers via the copper-catalyzed ring opening of oxetanes in situ. Notably, the substrate scope was extended to general aromatics.

The Paternò–Büchi reaction – a comprehensive review

This review represents the most complete description of the scientific results obtained on a photochemical reaction described 110 years ago by an Italian scientist.

Oxetane synthesis through the Paternò-Büchi reaction

The Paternò-Büchi reaction is a photochemical reaction between a carbonyl compound and an alkene to give the corresponding oxetane. In this review the mechanism of the reaction is discussed. On this basis the described use in the reaction with electron rich alkenes (enolethers, enol esters, enol silyl ethers, enanines, heterocyclic compounds has been reported. The stereochemical behavior of the reaction is particularly stressed. We pointed out the reported applications of this reaction to the synthesis of naturally occuring compounds.

Photo aldol reactions with 5-methoxyoxazoles: Highly regio- and diastereoselective synthesis of α-amino β-hydroxy carboxylic acid derivatives

A versatile route to derivatives of α-amino β-hydroxy carboxylic acids, either with tertiary (from a corresponding glycine equivalent) or a quaternary α-carbon center is described. The key reaction is the cycloaddition of electronically excited carbonyl compounds (aromatic and aliphatic aldehydes, respectively) to oxazoles. To make the products hydrolytically more labile, a methoxy substituent at position C-5 was introduced leading to the formation of cycloadducts with an orthoester substructure. The photocycloaddition, either with triplet excited (aromatic) carbonyls or with singlet excited (aliphatic) carbonyls, led to the formation of mixtures of endo- and exo-diastereoisomers with moderate to very high exo-selectivities. The 4-unsubstituted 5-methoxyoxazole 1 (glycine equivalent) gave the [2 + 2]-adducts 3a–3f with aldehydes 2a–2f in high yields and excellent diastereoselectivities. Hydrolysis of these compounds resulted in the α-amino β-hydroxy esters 4a–4f with preferred erythro (S*,S*) configuration. As an extension of this process, 4-alkylated 5-methoxyoxazoles 5a–5f were applied as alkene components and the corresponding cycloadducts with benzaldehyde 6a–6f were obtained. Again, the exo-diastereoisomers were formed as the major products in diastereoselectivities from 73:27 (exo:endo) up to >95:5. Hydrolysis of these adducts resulted in the formation of α-amino β-hydroxy esters 7a–7f with like (S*,S*) configuration of the major diastereoisomers.Key words: photo aldol reaction, oxazoles, oxetanes, photocycloaddition, amino acids, hydroxy acids.