Barton-McCombie deoxygenation reaction

The addition of silyl radicals to thiocarbonyl derivatives is a facile process leading to a-silylthio adducts (Reaction 5.37). This elementary reaction is the initial step of the radical chain deoxygenation of alcohols or Barton McCombie reaction (see Section 4.3.3 for more details). However, rate constants for the formation of these adducts are limited to the value for the reaction of (TMS)3Si radical with the xanthate c-C6HuOC(S)SMe (Table 5.3), a reaction that is also found to be reversible [15]. Structural information on the a-silylthio adducts as well as some kinetic data for the decay reactions of these species have been obtained by EPR spectroscopy [9,72]. 

D. Crich, On the use of S-(4-alkenyI)-dithiocarbonates as mechanistic probes in the Barton-McCombie radical deoxygenation reaction, Tetrahedron Lett. 29 5805 (1988). 

J. Nicholas Kirwan, B. P. Roberts, and C. R. Willis, Deoxygenation of alcohols by the reactions of their xanthate esters with triethylsilane An alternative to tributyltin hydride in the Barton-McCombie reaction, Tetrahedron Lett., 31 (1990) 5093-5096. 

Radical deoxygenation of alcohols is important, and the reduction of xanthates prepared from alcohols, with Bu3SnH in the presence of AIBN is called the Barton-McCombie reaction (eq. 2.13) [37-51]. The driving force for the reaction is the formation of a strong C=0 bond from the C=S bond, approximately 10 kcal/mol stronger. This reaction can be used for various types of substrates such as nucleosides and sugars. Though methyl xanthates, prepared from alcohols with carbon disulfide and methyl iodide under basic conditions are very frequently used, other thiocarbonates, as shown in eq. 2.14, can also be employed. 

The reaction of triethylboron with oxygen is a convenient way to generate ethyl radicals at room temperature, or at lower temperatures. These conditions at room temperature in the presence of tributyltin hydride efficiently perform the Barton-McCombie deoxygenation reaction. Recently, we showed that the tin hydride could be replaced by diphenylsilane also at room temperature, for the deoxygenation of secondary alcohols.20 Many different thiocarbonyl derivatives can now be used for the Barton-McCombie reaction. Data were collected for R = Ph, />-F-C6H4, C6F5, C6C13H2 with various substrates (Scheme 2). The yields were excellent for all the secondary... 

Besides carbon-halogen bonds, Bu3SnH is used routinely for hydrogenolysis of various carbon-heteroatom bonds. The deoxygenation from alcohols has been performed by a Barton-McCombie reaction where the addition of tin hydride to the triple bond is suppressed (Equation (2)).29-31... 

A much more common transformation for deoxygenating secondary alcohols is the Barton-McCombie reaction and various modifications of this method. Diisopropylideneglucofu-ranose 23 has served as a model compound for many of these deoxygenation reactions... 

In the Barton-McCombie radical deoxygenation reaction the hydroxyl group of an alcohol is replaced with a hydrogen atom. Even hindered secondary and tertiary alcohols may be deoxygenated by this method. In a typical procedure the alcohol is first converted to a thioxoester derivative, which is then exposed to tri-n-butyltin hydride in refluxing toluene. 

The products were obtained in excellent yields after simple hexane extraction. The removal of bromine and iodine proceeded smoothly. The removal of PhSe afforded methylcyclohexanone, indicating that the decarbonylation of acyl radicals takes place. The efficiency of deoxygenation of alcohols (Barton-McCombie reaction) is independent of the type of thiocarbonyl derivative (i.e. 0-arylthio-carbonate, O-thioxocarbamate, thiocarbonylimidazole or xanthate), as previously reported for (TMS)3SiH in organic solvents.25... 

Chatgilialoglu studied (MesSijsGeH as a new radical hydrogen donor, and found that reduction of chlorides, bromides, and iodides, deoxygenation of secondary alcohols via a thiono ester (Barton-McCombie reaction), deamination of primary amines via isocyanides, removal of PhSe group, and replacement of a tertiary nitro group by hydrogen were extremely effective (Scheme 11.15) [31]. 

Figure 7.20 Barton-McCombie reaction, (a) Classic pathway for deoxygenation of secondary alcohols Bu3Sn SCOSCH3 loses COS under the reaction conditions to yield Bu3SnSCH3 (b) Competing reactions in the deoxygenation of primary xanthates, and their avoidance (c) Chugaev reaction of tertiary methyl xanthates.

Radical deoxygenation of sec.-alcohols, Barton-McCombie reaction.2" This reaction proceeds more rapidly with xanthates [ R CHOC(S)SCHr than with any of the known phenoxy thiocarbonyl derivatives [R2CHOC(S)OCf,H ]. Of these the unsubstituted phenoxythiocarbonyl derivative is slightly more reactive than the 2,4,6-trichloro- or the p-fluorophenyl derivative. The pentafluorophcnyl derivative, R2CHOC(S)OC6F5, is the slowest of all known derivatives. 

The toxicity of organotin derivatives and the difficulty in removing tin residues has spurred considerable eflforts to devise catalytic systems or, preferably, completely tin-free processes for conducting radical reactions. The use of poly(methylhydrosiloxane) in conjunction with a small amount of hexabutylditin oxide, a combination of reagents initially proposed by Grady and Kuivila [21a], has recently been applied to Barton-McCombie type deoxygenations [21b]. Several silanes have been examined... 

Examination of the various steps in the above sequence provides considerable insight. From a thermodynamic standpoint several factors are important. In the first instance, the conceptual link between acylthiohydroxamate chemistry and the elegant Barton-McCombie reductive deoxygenation of xanthates and similar thiocarbonyl derivatives is immediately apparent, inasmuch as the reaction involves formation of the strong carbonyl bond at the expense of a weak thiocarbonyl moiety. The enhancement of the aromatic character which occurs when the pyridine nucleus... 

A very useful radical-based reaction has been developed that can be applied to alcohols. As seen in chapter 4, conversion of an alcohol such as 73 to a thionocarbonate (74), followed by treatment with tributyltin hydride under radical conditions, gives cleavage to the C—O bond to give, in this case, 75. This example is take from Beak s synthesis of (-)-dihydropinidine, and is an example of a transformation called the Barton deoxygenation or the Barton-McCombie reaction. ... 

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