Alcohols dimethyl sulfoxide-sulfur trioxide/pyridine

Dimethyl sulfoxide-Sulfur trioxide [1, 309, before references]. The combination of DMSO and sulfur trioxide, in the form of the pyridine complex, in the presence of trimethylamine oxidizes primary and secondary alcohols in good yield to aldehydes and ketones, respectively.55 The reaction usually is complete within minutes and the products are isolated by acidification and precipitation with water. The reagent also oxidizes allylic alcohols to the corresponding a,fi-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. One advantage over the DMSO-DCC method is that the elaborate purification required when dicyclohexylurea is a product can be dispensed with. Testosterone, with a 17/3-hydroxyl group, was oxidized toA -androstene-3,17-dione very rapidly the 17-epimer required a period of 35 min. 

The use of dimethyl sulfoxide-acetic anhydride as a reagent for the oxidation of unhindered steroidal alcohols does not appear to be as promising due to extensive formation of by-products. However, the reagent is sufficiently reactive to oxidize the hindered 11 j -hydroxyl group to the 11-ketone in moderate yield. The use of sulfur trioxide-pyridine complex in dimethyl sulfoxide has also been reported. The results parallel those using DCC-DMSO but reaction times are much shorter and the work-up is more facile since the separation of dicyclohexylurea is not necessary. Allylic alcohols can be oxidized by this procedure without significant side reactions. 

One of the best activators for dimethyl sulfoxide is the complex of sulfur trioxide/pyridine, which in the presence of triethylamine rapidly oxidizes primary and secondary alcohols to aldehydes and ketones in very good yields at ambient temperature. This reagent also allows the very use l conversion of allylic alcohols to the conesponding a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds. A further advantage of this procedure over many of the others is the ease of work-up, especially over the dimethyl sulfoxide-dicy-clohexylcarbodiimide method. 

Sulfur trioxide-pyridine dimethyl sulfoxide Oxo compounds from alcohols Preferential oxidation... 

In the first step of this reaction sequence, the primary alcohol 21 is oxidized to the corresponding aldehyde 38 in a Parikh-Doering oxidation which is related to the Swern oxidation. In general, this type of oxidation is conveniently carried out by addition of a solution of pyridine-SOs complex in DMSO to a mixture of the alcohol, DMSO and NEts. It can be assumed that dimethyl sulfoxide and sulfur trioxide react to form 0-dimethylsulfoxonium sulfate 40, which then further reacts with primary alcohol 39 to give 0-alkyl dimethylsulf-oxonium intermediate 41. Then, sulfonium salt 42 is formed and subsequently deprotonated by NEts to give sulfonium ylide 43. Finally, an intramolecular p-elimination occurs to provide the desired aldehyde 44 and dimethyl sulfide. 

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