Synthesis of alkyl-substituted six-membered lactones through ring-closing metathesis of homoallyl acrylates. An easy route to pyran-2-ones, constituents of tobacco flavor

The ring-closing metathesis (RCM) reactions of homoallylic acrylates bearing alkyl substituents on various positions of their skeleton afford the corresponding pentenolides in the presence of carbene ruthenium catalysts. For R-3 = R-4 = H, or R-3 = Me, R-4 = H, the reactions are catalyzed by complex [RuCl2(PCy3)(2)(CHPh)], while a second-generation Grubbs catalyst is required when R-3 = H and R-4 = Me, R-3 = R-4 = Me, or R-3 = i-Pr and R-4 = H. Alkyl substitution at the homoallylic carbon (R-1, R-2) increases the yield of the reaction when both the acrylic and/or homoallylic double bonds are methyl-substituted. The interaction of the catalyst with the substrate in the initiation stage involves the homoallylic double bond rather than the acrylic moiety, and the resulting alkylidene species from the first-generation Grubbs catalyst can be observed by H-1 and P-31 NMR. The racemic tobacco constituents 4-isopropyl-5,6-dihydropyran-2-one and 4-isopropyltetrahydropyran-2-one are prepared via a short reaction sequence, involving the RCM reaction as the key transformation.