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Two novel and synthetically useful reaction patterns of organolithium compounds with nitriles are reported to afford pyridine derivatives as the final products. Both 1-lithio-1,3-dienes and 1,4-dilithio-1,3-dienes, which can be easily generated in situ by lithiation of their corresponding iodo compounds, react with nitriles in the presence of HMPA to form substituted pyridines including 2,2‘-bipyridines and tetrahydroisoquinolines in high yields.

Reaction of 1,4-dilithio-1,3-diene derivatives with 2 equiv of aldehydes affords polysubstituted 2,5-dihydrofurans in good to high yields with perfect regio- and stereoselectivities. Hexa-2,4-diene-1,6-dialcoholates are proposed as the first intermediates, which undergo a cyclization and subsequent elimination of Li2O to generate the 2,5-dihydrofuran derivatives.

The Diels-Alder reaction of tribenzohexadehydro[12]annulene (12) and 3,4-diphenyl-2,5-dimethylcyclopentadienone (13) at 300 degrees C gave the triple adduct 2,3,10,11,18,19-hexaphenyl-1,4,9,12,17,20-hexamethylhexa-o-phenylene (6b) in 13% yield. NMR and X-ray analysis indicated that 6b adopts a screw conformation (C2) rather than a crown conformation (C3), and computational studies seem to rule out any interconversion of the two. Palladium-catalyzed coupling of 1,2-bis(4-bromophenyl)-3,4,5,6-tetraphenylbenzene (17) and the corresponding bis(boronic acid) 18 gave a mixture of linear and cyclic oligomers of hexaphenylbenzene containing two to six hexaphenylbenzene subunits. A macrocyclic tetramer was isolated from this mixture in 5% yield, and X-ray analysis showed it to be the "supertetraphenylene" 7 (C168H112) that contains a large central cavity and packs to form highly solvated, porous crystals. The difficulties encountered in the purification of 7 led to the development of alternative, more highly selective syntheses that give the pure macrocycle more easily but in essentially the same overall yield.

The crowded in-methylcyclophane 9 was prepared by condensation of 1,8,13-tris(bromomethyl)-9-methyltriptycene and 1,3,5-tris(mercaptomethyl)benzene under high dilution conditions. Oxidation of 9 gave the highly crystalline trisulfone 10, and its X-ray structure was determined. The in-methyl carbon atoms of the two independent molecules in the structure are only 2.90 and 2.87 A from the centroid of the basal aromatic ring, the closest such contacts ever observed. In addition, the C−CH3 bonds in these cyclophanes are compressed; the two independent bond distances are 1.475 and 1.495 A, significantly shorter than the ca. 1.54 A distances found in similar but uncongested molecules.

Stereodefined all-cis substituted dienols could be readily prepared in excellent yields by the direct addition of 1-bromomagnesiobutadiene or 1-lithiobutadiene derivatives with aldehydes and ketones. Depending on the nature of substituents and workup procedures, multi-substituted cyclopentadienes could be also formed in high yields from these dienols. It is interesting to note that, unlike normal alkenyl magnesiumbromides, these conjugated butadienyl magnesiumbromide reagents do not react with ketones.

[reaction: see text] Intramolecular acyl-lithiation of C=C double bonds proceeds following carbonylation of 1-lithio-1,3-dienes with CO to afford 2- or 3-cyclopentenone derivatives in good to excellent yields after hydrolysis. Addition of electrophiles to the carbonylation reaction mixtures affords various multiply substituted cyclopentenones.

Two novel and synthetically useful reaction patterns of organolithium compounds with nitriles are reported to afford pyridine derivatives as the final products. Both 1-lithio-1,3-dienes and 1,4-dilithio-1,3-dienes, which can be easily generated in situ by lithiation of their corresponding iodo compounds, react with nitriles in the presence of HMPA to form substituted pyridines including 2,2‘-bipyridines and tetrahydroisoquinolines in high yields.

One-pot reaction of carbon dioxide with 1,4-dilithio-1,3-diene derivatives afforded cyclopentadienone derivatives bearing various substituents in high yields within several minutes.

One-pot reaction of carbon dioxide with 1,4-dilithio-1,3-diene derivatives afforded cyclopentadienone derivatives bearing various substituents in high yields within several minutes.

Dichloromethane (DCM) as a C1 source has been discovered: methylene diesters from DCM and carboxylic acids or aldehydes with TBHP in water were efficiently synthesized. The reactions proceed under mild conditions and afford both aliphatic and aromatic methylene diesters in good to excellent yields (up to >99%). 2-Chloroethyl benzoates and 3-chloropropyl benzoates are easily obtained in the same way from 1,2-dichloroethane and 1,3-dichloropropane, respectively, in good to excellent yields.