Polar reactions of acyclic conjugated bisallenes

The chemical behaviour of various alkyl-substituted, acyclic conjugated bisallenes in reactions involving polar intermediates and/or transition states has been investigated on a broad scale for the first time. The reactions studied include lithiation, reaction of the thus formed organolithium salts with various electrophiles (among others, allyl bromide, DMF and acetone), oxidation to cyclopentenones and epoxides, hydrohalogenation (HCl, HBr addition), halogenation (Br2 and I2 addition), and [2 + 2] cycloaddition with chlorosulfonyl isocyanate. The resulting adducts were fully characterized by spectroscopic and analytical methods; they constitute interesting substrates for further organic transformations.