Synthesis and relative stability of 3,5-diacyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazoles prepared by dipolar cycloaddition of enones and α-diazoketones

An unusual reaction process that produced unexpected heterocyclic systems by a fragmentation-recombination mechanism is described. Thus treatment of the triketone, 3-acetyl-2,6-heptanedione, 1, with methanesulfonyl azide gave, in addition to the expected alpha-diazo ketone 3a, the dihydropyrazole 3c and its oxidation product, the pyrazole 3d. We propose that the initially formed alpha-diazo ketone 3a fragments into the simple alpha-diazomethyl ketone and methyl vinyl ketone which then undergo an intermolecular [2,3]-dipolar cycloaddition. Analogous treatment of the trifluoromethyl trione 2 again afforded a pyrazole 4c. Further experiments were carried out to lend evidence to our mechanistic hypothesis. Thus alpha-diazoacetophenone 5 and MVK underwent a [2,3]-dipolar cycloaddition under mild conditions to give the two regioisomeric dihydropyrazoles 6a and 6b. Interestingly these were formed in a 2:1 ratio, which suggested that 6a was more stable than 6b. The structures of 6a and 6b were optimized by using the B3LYP density functional method and the 6-31G* basis set and isomer 6a was predicted to be 1.5 kcal/mol more stable than isomer 6b. This energy difference could be rationalized by the greater capacity of the acetyl group than the benzoyl group to conjugate with the hydrazone. This difference in conjugation is reflected by key bond length differences. Thus we have discovered a novel fragmentation-cycloaddition process. We have also presented evidence for the mechanism of the formation of the dihydropyrazoles and carried out calculations to support these findings.