ABSTRACT
The chemistry of alkenes is one of the pillars of organic chemistry. These substrates undergo many synthetically useful transformations such as electrophilic and nucleophilic additions, oxidations, reductions, [1þ2] and [2þ2]-cycloadditions, metathesis, polymerizations [1]. This chemistry also applies to dienes and higher polyenes. Conjugated dienes undergo specific reactions, such as conjugated additions and [4þ2]-cycloadditions (DielsAlder reactions) that have found important synthetic applications [1]. However, the double bonds of nonconjugated dienes behave as two separate alkenes in most reactions, an exception being 1,5-dienes that undergo Cope and Claisen rearrangements [1]. In particular, C-C double bonds in 1,4-dienes tend to react as two separated entities in most of the reactions mentioned above, although a few specific reactions of compounds containing the 1,4-diene have been observed in the chemistry of some natural products such as polyunsaturated fatty acids and prostaglandins.
