Nitrosocarbonyl intermediates as 'super-enophiles': a mild method for carbon-nitrogen bond formation

Nitrosocarbonyl intermediates, generated at r.t. by the mild oxidation of nitrile oxides, undergo clean ene reactions with tetramethyl- and trimethyl-ethylene and with cyclohexene. With less substituted ethylenes the ene pathway is still active but the oxidation step of the nitrile oxides competes with the cycloadditions to the olefins.