Direct Diels-Alder reaction of chitin derived 3-acetamido-5-acetylfuran

The Diels-Alder (DA) reaction of biomass derived furans is an emerging technology for the preparation of new molecular entities and “drop-in” commodity chemicals. In this work we address the challenge of the direct use of electron-poor furanic platforms as dienes through the use of an unexplored chitin derived furan, 3-acetamido-5-acetylfuran (3A5AF). The 3-acetamido group promoted a remarkable increase in the kinetics of the DA allowing for the preparation of 7-oxanorbornenes (7-ONB) at 50 ºC. Partial hydrolysis of the enamide to hemi-acylaminals was possible upon fine tuning of the reaction conditions, disabling retro-DA processes. Finally, DA reaction of the reduced form of 3A5AF allowed quantitative formation of 7-ONB in aqueous condition after 10 minutes. Certanly these are the first steps for expanding the toolbox of chitin derived 3A5AF as diene.