Hydrogen-Bond-Promoted Hetero-Diels−Alder Reactions of Unactivated Ketones

Abstract

We report the first examples of hydrogen-bond-promoted acceleration of hetero-Diels-Alder reactions and the use of such catalysis for the hetero-Diels-Alder reactions of simple, unactivated ketones. Several spiro-fused dihydropyans were synthesized in good yields using this procedure. This activation protocol represents an attractive and operationally simple alternative to conventional, Lewis acid catalysis.