Michael reactions of ascorbic acid, 4th communication: nitrostyrene as a Michael acceptor toward vitamin C

The nitrostyrene derivatives 1a-m, prepared by the reaction of nitromethane with the appropriate substituted benzaldehyde, were reacted with ascorbic acid in a Michael type reaction to the new compounds 2a-h. The structural assignment of the resulting mixture of diastereomers could be performed by means of two dimensional homo- and heterocorrelated NMR spectroscopy and comparison to known Michael adducts of ascorbic acid. Catalytic hydrogenolysis of 2a yielded the rearranged compound 7, formed by intramolecular aminolysis in analogy to the rearrangement of the Michael adduct of ascorbic acid and methylvinylketone 3 given in the literature. On testing, the C-nucleoside 7 did not reveal virostatic or cytostatic effects.