Alcohols sulfenic

Sulfenyl chlondes react with allyl alcohols to yield allyl sulfenates, whtch are in equihbnum with the allyl sulfoxides [12] (equation 9a) These products can be oxidized to the corresponding sulfones (equation 9b) Pyrolysis of the sulfoxides gives sulfines or evidence for the presence of sulfmes Pyrolysis of sulfones leads to unsamrated compounds by extrusion of sulfur dioxide [12] (equation 9c)... 

Section 15.13 Thiols are compounds of the type RSH. They are more acidic than alcohols and are readily deprotonated by reaction with aqueous base. Thiols can be oxidized to sulfenic acids (RSOH), sulfinic acids (RSO2H), and sulfonic acids (RSO3H). The redox relationship between thiols and disulfides is important in certain biochemical processes. 

Aliphatic sulfonyl chlorides that have a-hydrogen substituents, react with simple tertiary amines, such as trimethylamine, to generate sulfenes or perhaps their amine adducts 446). These species are suggested by the incorporation of one (but not more) deuterium atoms on reaction of sulfonyl chlorides with deuterated alcohols and triethylamine (447-450). A 2 1 adduct of sulfene and trimethylamine with proposed sulfonyl-sulfene structure could be isolated (451). 

However, alcohol-free solutions of diazomethane146 must be used to avoid destruction of the intermediate sulfene and a stronger base such as 1,5-diazabicyclo [4.3.0] non-5-ene is required for the final dehydrohalogenation step to obtain sulfones 19a,d. 

Owing to the reversible nature of the allylic sulfenate/allylic sulfoxide interconversion, the stereochemical outcome of both processes is treated below in an integrated manner. However, before beginning the discussion of this subject it is important to point out that although the allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement is reversible, and although the sulfenate ester is usually in low equilibrium concentration with the isomeric sulfoxide, desulfurization of the sulfenate by thiophilic interception using various nucleophiles, such as thiophenoxide or secondary amines, removes it from equilibrium, and provides a useful route to allylic alcohols (equation 11). 

One of the first uses of the allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate interconversion was made by Jones and coworkers64, who reported exclusive suprafacial rearrangement of the allyl group in the steroidal sulfoxide 17 shown in equation 13. Two other examples are shown in equations 1465 and 1566. Evans and coworkers have demonstrated the utility of the suprafacial allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement in a new synthesis of the tetracyclic alcohol 24 (equation 16)67, as well as in a synthesis of prostaglandin intermediates as shown in equation 1768. The stereospecific rearrangement of the unstable sulfenate intermediate obtained from the cis diol 25 indicates the suprafacial nature of this process. 

The data presented demonstrate that allylic sulfoxides can provide an easy and highly stereoselective route to allylic alcohols taking advantage of the facility of the allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement. This is of considerable synthetic utility, since a number of stereoselective and useful transformations of allylic alcohols and their derivatives have become available in recent years107-109. 

In addition to the synthetic applications related to the stereoselective or stereospecific syntheses of various systems, especially natural products, described in the previous subsection, a number of general synthetic uses of the reversible [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of allylic sulfoxides are presented below. Several investigators110-113 have employed the allylic sulfenate-to-sulfoxide equilibrium in combination with the syn elimination of the latter as a method for the synthesis of conjugated dienes. For example, Reich and coworkers110,111 have reported a detailed study on the conversion of allylic alcohols to 1,3-dienes by sequential sulfenate sulfoxide rearrangement and syn elimination of the sulfoxide. This method of mild and efficient 1,4-dehydration of allylic alcohols has also been shown to proceed with overall cis stereochemistry in cyclic systems, as illustrated by equation 25. The reaction of trans-46 proceeds almost instantaneously at room temperature, while that of the cis-alcohol is much slower. This method has been subsequently applied for the synthesis of several natural products, such as the stereoselective transformation of the allylic alcohol 48 into the sex pheromone of the Red Bollworm Moth (49)112 and the conversion of isocodeine (50) into 6-demethoxythebaine (51)113. 

Another version of the double [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement, involving the sequence sulfenate - sulfoxide - sulfenate, has also been observed. For example, an effective one-pot epimerization procedure of 17a-vinyl-l 7/i-hydroxysteroids to the rather inaccessible 17-epimers has been achieved by the use of such a rearrangement (equation 35)137. Thus treatment of alcohol 76a with benzenesulfenyl chloride afforded the sulfoxide 77 as a single isomer and E-geometry of the olefinic double bond. Exposure of 77 to trimethyl phosphite in refluxing methanol produced a mixture of 76b and 76a in a 73 27 ratio. 

An allylic sulfenate, like 199, is known to be in equilibrium with allylic sulfoxide, like 196, although its concentration is usually low . Various allylic sulfoxides can be prepared by treatment of allylic alcohols with arenesulfenyl chlorides . Evans and coworkers prepared various allylic alcohols by treating the corresponding allylic sulfoxides with trimethyl phosphite. For example, the carbanion from a cycloalkenyl sulfoxide 201 was readily alkylated at the a-position by treatment with alkyl halide. The resulting alkylated derivative 202 was then treated with trimethyl phosphite and 3-substituted cycloalkenol was obtained. Alkylation of acyclic allylic sulfoxide 204 gave... 

As a continuation to the studies by Darwish and Braverman on the [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of allylic sulfinates to sulfones, and in view of its remarkable facility and stereospecificity (see Chapter 13), Braverman and Stabinsky investigated the predictable analogous rearrangement of allylic sulfenates to sulfoxides, namely the reverse rearrangement of that attempted by Cope and coworkers . These authors initiated their studies by the preparation of the claimed allyl trichloromethanesulfenate using the method of Sosnovsky . This method involves the reaction between trichloro-methanesulfenyl chloride and allyl alcohol in ether at 0 °C, in the presence of pyridine (equation 6). 

Subsequently, these authors have also studied the effect of polar factors on the sulfenate-sulfoxide equilibrium and obtained similar results to those reported by Braverman and coworkers . For example, reaction of 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfenyl chloride with lithium allyl-a-dj alcoholate gives only (or perhaps mainly ) allyl-a-d2 2,4-dinitrobenzenesulfenate, whereas the corresponding reaction with 4-nitrobenzenesul-fenyl chloride results in complete ( > 99%) rearrangement to the sulfoxide. However, when a single nitro group is located in the ortho position, the ratio (K) of sulfenate to sulfoxide approaches unity. This ratio is also affected by the polarity of the solvent and changes from 1.43 in CCI4 to 0.39 in chloroform, consistent with the results described above for the equilibrium shown in equation 9. 

The allyl sulfoxide-allyl sulfenate rearrangement can be used to prepare allylic alcohols.275 The reaction is carried out in the presence of a reagent, such as phenylthi-olate or trimethyl phosphite, that reacts with the sulfenate to cleave the S—O bond. 

Sulfonylallenes 130a-c are easily prepared from propargyl alcohol via sulfenation, [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement and mCPBA oxidation (see Chapter 1). 

The first evidence that an elimination-addition mechanism could be important in nucleophilic substitution reactions of alkanesulfonyl derivatives was provided by the observation (Truce et al., 1964 Truce and Campbell, 1966 King and Durst, 1964, 1965) that when alkanesulfonyl chlorides RCH2S02C1 were treated in the presence of an alcohol R OD with a tertiary amine (usually Et3N) the product was a sulfonate ester RCHDS020R with exactly one atom of deuterium on the carbon alpha to the sulfonyl group. Had the ester been formed by a base-catalysed direct substitution reaction of R OD with the sulfonyl chloride there would have been no deuterium at the er-position. Had the deuterium been incorporated by a separate exchange reaction, either of the sulfonyl chloride before its reaction to form the ester, or of the ester subsequent to its formation, then the amount of deuterium incorporated would not have been uniformly one atom of D per molecule. The observed results are only consistent with the elimination-addition mechanism involving a sulfene intermediate shown in (201). Subsequent kinetic studies... 

King and Lee, 1969) which showed that the reaction is first order in [RCH2S02C1] and [Et3N], but zero order in [R OD], demonstrate that the formation of the sulfene (201a) is rate-determining the sulfene then reacts with the alcohol to form the ester in a subsequent rapid step (201b). 

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