Asymmetric induction chiral sulfoxides

Remote asymmetric induction using chiral sulfoxides, derivatives of furan, thiophene, and pyrrole 98YGK798. 

The big difference between the extent of asymmetric induction on the addition to a prostereogenic carbonyl group of simple carbanions a to a chiral sulfoxide on the one hand and enolates of sulfinyl esters on the other, can be attributed to the capacity of the ester function to chelate magnesium in the transition states and intermediates. The results already described for the addition of chiral thioacetal monosulfoxide to aldehydes (see Section 1.3.6.5.) underscore the importance of other functions, e.g., sulfide, for the extent of asymmetric induction. 

In this chapter the addition of carbon nucleophiles to simple a,j8-unsaturated sulfoxides, a-sulfinyl-a,/ -unsaturated ketones and a-sulfmyl-a,/ -unsaturated lactones will be discussed separately, in most cases the asymmetric induction arises from the chirality at sulfur. 

Sulfoxides (R1—SO—R2), which are tricoordinate sulfur compounds, are chiral when R1 and R2 are different, and a-sulfmyl carbanions derived from optically active sulfoxides are known to retain the chirality. Therefore, these chiral carbanions usually give products which are rich in one diastereomer upon treatment with some prochiral reagents. Thus, optically active sulfoxides have been used as versatile reagents for asymmetric syntheses of many naturally occurring products116, since optically active a-sulfinyl carbanions can cause asymmetric induction in the C—C bond formation due to their close vicinity. In the following four subsections various reactions of a-sulfinyl carbanions are described (A) alkylation and acylation, (B) addition to unsaturated bonds such as C=0, C=N or C= N, (C) nucleophilic addition to a, /5-unsaturated sulfoxides, and (D) reactions of allylic sulfoxides. 

In 2005, Nguyen et al. reported the first example of asymmetric cyclopropa-nation of olefins with EDA mediated by a combination of a (salen) ruthenium(II) catalyst and a catalytic amount of a chiral sulfoxide (Scheme 6.7). These authors proposed that the mechanism explaining the asymmetric induction involved the axial coordination of the chiral sulfoxide to the ruthenium centre as the key induction step in the reaction stereoselectivity. 

A chiral sulfoxide can be used as a leaving group for the asymmetric induction via addition-elimination process. 6-Lactam enolates are converted into the corresponding nitroalkenes substituted with lactams (Eq. 4.101).127... 

In addition, it has been observed that iridum complexes generated in situ from (TrCl3-3H20] and chiral sulfoxides cause no asymmetric induction during hydrogenation (300). 

According to this correlation model, in which the principles of steric control of asymmetric induction at carbon (40) are applied, the stereoselectivity of oxidation should depend on the balance between one transition state [Scheme 1(a)] and a more hindered transition state [Scheme 1(6)] in which the groups and R at sulfur face the moderately and least hindered regions of the peroxy acid, respectively. Based on this model and on the known absolute configuration of (+)-percamphoric acid and (+)-l-phenylperpropionic acid, the correct chirality at sulfur (+)-/ and (-)-5 was predicted for alkyl aryl sulfoxides, provided asymmetric oxidation is performed in chloroform or carbon tetrachloride solution. Although the correlation model for asymmetric oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides is oversimplified and has been questioned by Mislow (41), it may be used in a tentative way for predicting the chirality at sulfur in simple sulfoxides. 

The first example of asymmetric induction in transfer of chirality from the chiral sulfur atom to the prochiral carbon atom was described by Goldberg and Sahli in 1965 (197). It concerns the pyrolysis of the optically active p-tolyl tra s-4-methylcyclohexyl sulfoxides 258. It was found that on pyrolysis at 200 to 250°C, optically active sulfoxides (R)-258 and (5)-258 yield optically active 4-methylcyclohexenes-l 259, with the absolute R and S configurations, respectively, at the newly formed chiral carbon atoms (Scheme 25). The optical purities of the 4-methylcyclohexenes-l that were formed depended largely on the temperature of pyrolysis. Thus, the values of 42 and 70% optical purity were noted for 259 at 250° and 200°C, respectively. The formation of the cycloolefins 259, whose absolute configurations are the same as those of the starting optically active sulfoxides 258, indicates that the pyrolysis reaction proceeds... 

Recently, new examples of asymmetric induction in the Pummerer reaction of chiral sulfoxides have been described. Oae and Numata (301) reported that the optically active a-cyanomethyl p-tolyl sulfoxide 275 undergoes a typical Pummerer rearrangement upon heating with excess of acetic anhydride at 120°C, to give the optically active a-acetoxy sulfide 276. The optical purity at the chiral a-carbon center in 276, determined by means of H- NMR spectroscopy using a chiral shift reagent, was 29.8%. 

The addition of electrophilic reagents to chiral a,/3-unsaturated sulfoxides is also accompanied by asymmetric induction. Stirling and Abbott (318,322) found that the addition of bromine to the optically active (.R)-vinyl-p-tolyl sulfoxide 319 yields a mixture of diastereo-meric a,/3-dibromosulfoxides 320. Oxidation of this mixture gives the optically active sulfone 321, with a center of chirality at the a-carbon atom only. The optical purity (32%) of this sulfone was estimated by comparing its specific rotation with that obtained as a result of oxidation of diastereomerically pure sulfoxide (/ )-320. The assignment of configuration at the a-carbon atom was based on the analysis of the polarizabilities of substituents. 

In the alkylation of optically active 2-(phenylsulfinyl)ethanol, the only stereogenic center is the sulfoxide, hence, the result shows the net asymmetric induction of the sulfoxide chirality 87. Good stereoselectivity was obtained. 

The use of a chiral hydroperoxide as oxidant in the asymmetric Baeyer-Villiger reaction was also described by Aoki and Seebach, who tested the asymmetric induction of their TADOOH hydroperoxide in this kind of reaction98. Besides epoxidation and sulfoxidation, for which they found high enantioselectivities with TADOOH (60), this oxidant is also able to induce high asymmetry in Baeyer-Villiger oxidations of racemic cyclobutanone derivatives in the presence of DBU as a base and LiCl as additive (Scheme 174). The yields and ee values (in parentheses) of ketones and lactones are given in Scheme 174 as... 

The use of chiral sulfoxides to transfer the chirality from sulfur to the a carbon has been investigated, and the high asymmetric induction observed in chiral acyclic sulfoxides using a silicon-induced Pummerer-typc reaction is noteworthy [249]. 

In the first attempts to use a chiral a-sulfinyi ester enolate as donor in Michael additions to a -un-saturated esters, only low selectivities were observed.185 186 Better results are obtained when the a-lithio sulfoxide (174), a chiral acyl anion equivalent, is employed. Conjugate addition of (174) to cyclopent-enone derivatives occurs with reasonably high degrees of asymmetric induction, as exemplified by the preparation of the 11-deoxy prostanoid (175 Scheme 63).187 188 Chiral oxosulfonium ylides and chiral li-thiosulfoximines can be used for the preparation of optically active cyclopropane derivatives (up to 49% ee) from a, -unsaturated carbonyl compounds.189... 

Sulfoxides yielded have the ( -configuration. A detailed mechanism of the origin of asymmetric induction is unknown. These chiral electrodes are reusable without loss of enantioselectivity. This approach is synthetically promising, but preparation of coated electrodes is a delicate undertaking, making the method difficult in practice unless robust chiral electrodes become commercially available. 

An impressive new route to enantiopure syn- and anti- 1,2-diols involves sequential diastereoselective DIBAL reduction of oxalyl-di(/V-iucthyl-/V-methoxyainide) following conversion to a corresponding intermediate / -keto sulfoxide a route that involved control of both reductions by the chiral sulfoxide auxiliary.253 Comparison of / -hydroxy ketone systems with die y-sulfoxide-/ -keto systems used here showed this to be die first example of such asymmetric induction by a y-sulfoxide substituent. 

Pollet, P. Turck, A. Pie, N. Queguiner, G. Synthesis of chiral diazine and pyridine sulfoxides. Asymmetric induction by chiral sulfox-... 

Addition to allylic mesylates.6 Conjugate addition of organocyanocuprates to acyclic allylic mesylates substituted at the P-position with a chiral sulfoxide group involves an SN2 -substitution with high Z/E stereoselectivity and high asymmetric induction. This reaction provides a route to chiral trisubstituted vinyl sulfoxides. 

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