Orbital unsymmetrization affects facial selectivities of Diels-Alder dienophiles

We investigated the Diels-Alder reactions of maleic anhydrides embedded in a dibenzobicyclo[2.2.2]octatriene motif as a nonsterically biased dienophile. Substituents on a benzene ring in these dienophiles are far from the reaction center, providing a sterically equivalent Jr-face. Instead substituents can unsymmetrize the dienophilic pi face through pi* (anhydride)-pi* (aromatic) orbital interactions. Electron-withdrawing substituents affect the facial bias and relative rates of these cycloadditions. The preference of the cycloadditions is opposite in direction to those observed in nucleophilic additions of 2-substituted-9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethanoanthracen-11-ones (dibenzobicyclo[2.2.2]octadienones) and in electrophilic additions of 2-substituted 9,10-dihydro-9,10-ethenoanthracenes (dibenzobicyclo[2.2.2]octatrienes), though all of them have related dibenzobicyclic systems.