Carbenoids, thiocarbonyl ylides, addition

Some years later, the first stable thiocarbonyl ylides 9 and 10 were prepared by the reaction of thiourea with cyano-substituted oxiranes (19,20) or by addition of Rh-di(tosyl)carbenoid to benzo-l,2-dithiole-3-thione (21), respectively. Enhanced stability and the low reactivity of 9 and 10, which enables their isolation in crystalline form, results from the push-pull substitution at the two termini [cf. also (22)]. Another class of stable thiocarbonyl ylides that are also able to afford [3 + 2]-cycloaddition products are the mesoionic 1,3-dithiole-4-ones of type 11 (23,24). 

Heimgartner and co-workers treated a-diazoketones and a-diazoamides 64 with thiones, with and without a catalyst such as Rh(OAc)2 present (1998HCA285). The products were substituted thiiranes 65 and/or substituted 1,3-oxathioles. In all cases, a thiocarbonyl ylide intermediate, which could undergo either a 1,3- or a 1,5-electro-cyclization, was held responsible. The ylide could arise either from addition of a carbene or a carbenoid to S of the thiocarbonyl compound or by loss of N2 from a primary cycloadduct between the diazo and the thiocarbonyl compounds. In one case, such a primary adduct was isolated. The thiirane carboxamides could be desulfurized with (Me2N)3P in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at 60 °C to afford acrylamides 66 (Scheme 11). 

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