Synthesis, Structures and Conformational Studies of 1,2-Dimethyl[2.10]metacyclophan-1-enes

A series of 1,2-dimethyl[2.10]metacyclophan-1-enes (MCP-1-enes) containing different substituent groups has been synthesized to illustrate their conformational behavior. 4,22-dimethoxy-1,2-dimethyl[2.10]MCP-1-ene 3 was synthesized by a Grignard coupling reaction, Friedel-Crafts acylation reactions and McMurry coupling reaction from 1,10-dibromodecane. The formation of 4,22-dihydroxy-1,2-dimethyl[2.10]MCP-1-ene 4 was carried out by demethylation of compound 3 with boron tribromide at room temperature. The syn type conformation of 4 was characterized by X-ray diffraction and was found to form both intramolecular and intermolecular hydrogen bonds between the two hydroxyl groups. From this reaction an interesting compound [10]tetrahydrobenzofuranophane 5 was afforded on prolonging the reaction time. 5,21-diformyl-4,22-dihydroxy-1,2-dimethyl[2.10]MCP-1-ene 6 has been prepared from 4,22-dihydroxy-1,2-dimethyl[2.10]MCP-1-ene 4 by using the Duff method in the presence of hexamethylenetetramine. Structural analysis by ¹H NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction confirmed that both the solution and the crystalline state of compound 6 adopts an anti-conformation which forms an intramolecular hydrogen bond between the formyl group and the hydroxyl group, which is an interesting finding for long carbon chain MCP compounds.