New Heptalenes Substituted with Extended π-Systems

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/hlca.19970800123

The synthesis of π-substituted heptalenecarboxylates or -dicarboxylates, starting with the easily available dimethyl 9-isopropyl-1,6-dimethylheptalene-4,5-dicarboxylate (2b), are described. Treatment of 2b with t-BuOK and C₂Cl₆ at -78° leads to the chemoselective introduction of a Cl substituent in Me-C(1) (see 5b in Scheme 1). Formation of the corresponding triphenylphosphonium salt 7b via the iodide 6b (Scheme 2) allowed a Wittig reaction with cinnamaldehyde in the two-phase system CH₂Cl₂/2N NaOH. Transformation of the 4,5-dicarboxylate of 2b into the corresponding pseudo-ester 10b allowed the selective reduction of the carbonyl function at C(4) with DIBAH to yield the corresponding 4-carbaldehyde 11b (Scheme 3). Wittig reaction of 11b with (benzyl)triphenylphosphonium bromide led to the introduction of the 4-phenylbuta-1,3-dienyl substituent at C(4). The combination of both Wittig reactions led to the synthesis of the 1,4-bis(4-phenylbuta-1,3-dienyl)-substituted heptalene-5-carboxylate (all-E)-17b (Scheme 5). In a similar manner, by applying a Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction, followed by the Wittig reaction, the donor-acceptor substituted heptalene-5-carboxylate (E;E)-22b was synthesized (Scheme 7). Most of these new heptalenes are in solution, at room temperature, in thermal equilibrium with their double-bond shifted (DBS) isomers. In the case of (all-E)-17b and (E;E)-22b, irradiation of the thermal equilibrium mixture with light of λ = (439 ± 10) nm led to a strong preponderance (> 90%) of the DBS isomers 17a and (E;E)-22a, respectively (Schemes 6 and 7). Heating of the photo-mixtures at 40° re-established quickly the thermal equilibrium mixtures. Heptalenes-carboxylates (all-E)-17a and (E;E)-22a which represent the off-state of a 1,4-conjugative switch (CS) system show typical heptalene UV/VIS spectra with a bathochromically shifted heptalene band III and comparably weak heptalene bands II and I which appear only as shoulders (Figs. 4 and 5). In contrast, the DBS isomers (all-E)-17b and (all-E)-22b, equivalent to the on-state of a 1,4-CS system, exhibit extremely intense heptalene bands I and, possibly, II which appear as a broad absorption band at 440 and 445 nm, respectively, thus indicating that the CSs (all-E)-17a?(all-E)-17b and (E;E)-22a?(E;E)-22b are perfectly working.