Cycloaddition reactions of cross-conjugated enaminones

A detailed study on the cycloaddition reactions of cross-conjugated enaminones 1 and 9 with dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (DMAD) and ketenes is described. The reactions provide a variety of pyran (4, 11), pyran-2-one 14 and pyrrol-3-ylidene 8 derivatives having great pharmacological and medicinal significance. Moreover, the preferred formation of product 8 over 7 has been explained on the basis of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations performed on the intermediate 5 in the gas phase. The synthetic potential of enaminones 9 has further been explored by treating them with Lawesson's reagent (LR) and trapping the in situ generated enaminothiones 16 with some acrylates 17 leading to the formation of thiopyran derivatives 19. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in which cross-conjugated enaminothiones 16 have been utilized in cycloaddition reactions.