Diastereoselective intramolecular hetero Diels–Alder approach towards polycyclic heterocycles

Several different heterocyclic aldehydes, derived from pyrazole, pyrimidine, pyridine, indole and thiazole, were converted to polyheterocyclic compounds containing four to seven rings. The key steps in the sequence were a Knoevenagel condensation of the aldehyde and a heterocyclic carbonyl compound, such as pyrazolone and isoxazolone, followed by an intramolecular hetero Diels–Alder reaction. Most final products were isolated with high yield and diastereoselecivity. The isoxazolo fused cycloadducts formed interesting spiro-adducts upon heating. The cis nature of the bridging hydrogens of the heterocycles was evidenced by X-ray diffraction analysis.