Diazo compounds stable singlet carbenes

There have been a number of reports on the photochemical reaction between diazo-compounds and sulphides to form either stable or transient ylides. lllger et al. reported the isolation of a series of ylides from the reaction of dimethyl sulphide with substituted diazomethanes, such substituents being carbonyl, sulphonyl, or phosphoryl groups. Ando et of. described the reaction of diazo dimethyhnalonate with a series of sulphides but found that the yields of ylides varied considerably, much more so than for the thermal reaction, with the nucleophilicity of the sulphide. For example, dimethyl sulphide afforded an 88% yield of ylide (6a) while diphenyl sulphide afforded a 12% yield of ylide (6b). Repetition of the reaction with dimethyl sulphide but in the presence of cyclohexene indicated that the sulphide was about six times as reactive as the olefin toward the photochemically generated carbene. These reactions aU were assumed to occur by conversion of the diazo-compound into a singlet carbene, which attacked sulphur. However, it was found that (6a) also could... 

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