JOURNAL OF HETEROCYCLIC CHEMISTRY, cilt.41, sa.5, ss.741-746, 2004 (SCI-Expanded)
1,3-Dipolar cycloaddition reactions of N-methyl-C-arylnitrones with N-phenyl- or N-methylmaleimide were studied. The reaction of p-dimethylamino-, 4-benzyloxy-3-methoxy-, p-nitro- and p-chloro- substituted phenylnitrones with N-phenylmaleimide gave cis and trans cycloadducts but that of the corresponding phenylnitrones with N-methylmaleimides only the cis adducts in the case of p-dimethylamino and 4-benzyloxy-3-methoxy substitution. All cis adducts attain a biased conformation whereas the trans forms are shown (by H-1 NMR at 233 K and C-13 NMR at 208 K) to be mixtures of two invertomers, namely o- (N-lone pair antiperiplanar to 3H; minor) and i-conformations (3H-C-C-3aH dihedral angle close to 90degrees; major). PM3 and DFT calculations at the B3LYP/6-31G(d) level of theory prove qualitatively that these two conformers of the trans adduct are of comparable stability and represent energy minima.