Diols Barton-McCombie reaction

Figure 7.21 Application of the Barton-McCombie reaction to diols.

The preparation of the CD building block was continued as follows. After reductive opening of the epoxide 91 with sodium cyanoborohydride, the resulting diol was converted into the bis-acetyl ester 92. Selective hydrolysis of the less sterically hindered ester was followed by conversion of the unprotected alcohol into the thiocarbonate. After deoxygenation via a Barton-McCombie reaction, the ensuing product 93 is set up for deprotection and oxidation to a key chiral CD intermediate for vitamin D synthesis. 

The reduction of thiocarbonyl derivatives by EtsSiH can be described as a chain process under forced conditions (Reaction 4.50) [89,90]. Indeed, in Reaction (4.51) for example, the reduction of phenyl thiocarbonate in EtsSiD as the solvent needed 1 equiv of dibenzoyl peroxide as initiator at 110 °C, and afforded the desired product in 91 % yield, where the deuterium incorporation was only 48% [90]. Nevertheless, there are some interesting applications for these less reactive silanes in radical chain reactions. For example, this method was used as an efficient deoxygenation step (Reaction 4.52) in the synthesis of 4,4-difluoroglutamine [91]. 1,2-Diols can also be transformed into olefins using the Barton-McCombie methodology. Reaction (4.53) shows the olefination procedure of a bis-xanthate using EtsSiH [89]. 

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