Corey-Chaykovsky reagent

Dimethyloxosulfonium methylide - known as the Corey-Chaykovsky Reagent - is a valuable alternative to dimethylsulfonium methylide and can be generated from trimethylsulfoxonium iodide. 

The reaction of the Corey-Chaykovsky Reagent with enones is a 1,4-addition that is followed by ring closure to give a cyclopropane ... 

Ng, J. S. Epoxide formation from aldehydes and ketones - a modified method for preparing the Corey-Chaykovsky reagents. Synth. Commun. 1990, 20,1193-1202. 

In addition to the synthesis of heterocycles, the Corey-Chaykovsky reaction bestows an entry to carbocycles as well. The reaction of (trialkylsilyl)vinylketene 89 with substituted ylide 90 led exclusively to rrans-4,5-dimethyl cyclopentenone 91. The substituted ylide 90 here serves as a nucleophilic carbenoid reagent in the formal [4 +1] annulation reaction. 

The most commonly used reagents to effect the addition of a methylene group to an aldehyde or ketone are sulfur ylides such as dimethylsulfonium methylide (1) or dimethyloxosulfonium methylide (2) (Corey-Chaykovsky reaction). This reaction is well reviewed in standard treatises of organic synthesis - and several useful monographs. - This update will concentrate on progress attained from 1975. The reader is also encouraged to consult reviews on the chemistry of the related sulfoximine-derived ylides such as (3). -"... 

Corey and Chaykovsky had discovered that dimethyl sulfoxide is converted to methyl-sulfinyl carbanion upon treatment with sodium hydride114 and that this conjugate base of DMSO reacts with various electrophiles115. This finding has opened up various reactions with a-sulfmyl carbanions derived from sulfoxides, since the sulfinyl function can be removed either by thermolysis or by subjecting the compound to reductive desulfurization. Thus a-sulfmyl carbanions have become versatile synthetically useful reagents. 

Details of the preparation and use of the reagent are provided E. J. Corey, M. Chaykovsky, Journal of the American Chemical Society 1965, 87,1350... 

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