Highly electrophilic, gem- and spiro-activated trichloromethylnitrocyclopropanes: synthesis and structure

• Ilia A. Pilipenko,
• Mikhail V. Grigoriev,
• Olga Yu. Ozerova,
• Igor A. Litvinov,
• Darya V. Spiridonova,
• Aleksander V. Vasilyev and
• Sergey V. Makarenko

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2026, 22, 123–130, doi:10.3762/bjoc.22.5

• , benzoylacetonitrile), spirocarbo- (based on 1,3-indanedione) and spiroheterocyclic (based on Meldrum's acid, dimethylbarbituric acid, 3-methyl-1-phenyl-5-pyrazolone) cyclopropane structures were isolated and characterized. Keywords: bromonitropropene; CH-acids; cyclopropanes; nitrocyclopropanes; trichloromethyl

• of ring opening or expanding [11][12][13]. Thus, known trichloromethyl-containing cyclopropanes can serve as precursors for hard-to-access halogenated β,γ- and γ,δ-unsaturated esters [14][15]. Nitrocyclopropanes are known as highly electrophilic substrates and can form a carbanion stabilized by the

• nitro group upon breaking the C–C bond [16][17]. Substituted nitrocyclopropanes in reactions with various nucleophiles form linear precursors for the synthesis of γ-substituted α-aminobutyric acids [18][19], cyclic nitropyrrolines [20] and isoxazoline N-oxides [18]. The nitrocyclopropane fragment is a

First synthesis of acylated nitrocyclopropanes

• Kento Iwai,
• Rikiya Kamidate,
• Khimiya Wada,
• Haruyasu Asahara and
• Nagatoshi Nishiwaki

Beilstein J. Org. Chem. 2023, 19, 892–900, doi:10.3762/bjoc.19.67

• Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 1-6, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan 10.3762/bjoc.19.67 Abstract Although nitrocyclopropanedicarboxylic acid esters are widely used in organic syntheses, nitrocyclopropanes with an acyl group have not yet been synthesized. When adducts of β-nitrostyrene and 1,3

• 3b used in only three cases [12][13][19], to the best of our knowledge. Extending beyond Scheme 2, only two syntheses of nitrocyclopropanes containing cyclic keto esters or diketones have been reported [20][21]. These findings indicate that the synthesis of nitrocyclopropanes with an acyl group is

• quite difficult, although they would be very useful in synthetic chemistry, if available. In this study, we investigated the synthesis of nitrocyclopropanes using keto esters 3c–f and diketones 3b and 3g instead of diester 3a as the starting 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds. Results and Discussion We commenced