A facile synthesis of novel dispiroheterocycles through solvent-free microwave-assisted [3+2] cycloaddition of azomethine ylides

A comparative study of the synthesis of novel dispiro pyrrolo/pyrrolizidino ring systems by the cycloaddition of azomethine ylides generated by a decarboxylative route from sarcosine/proline and isatin with the dipolarophile 9-arylidine-fluorene using four different methodologies is described. A solvent-free microwave-assisted approach gave products with the highest yields in a short time. Additionally, our solvent-free approach allowed the use of 4-N,N-dimethylaminobenzaldehyde, which failed to yield the desired cycloadducts under conventional approaches. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.