Methylsulfinyl carbanion reaction with ester

On treatment with a strong base such as sodium hydride or sodium amide, dimethyl sulfoxide yields a proton to form the methylsulfinyl carbanion (dimsyl ion), a strongly basic reagent. Reaction of dimsyl ion with triphenylalkylphosphonium halides provides a convenient route to ylides (see Chapter 11, Section III), and with triphenylmethane the reagent affords a high concentration of triphenylmethyl carbanion. Of immediate interest, however, is the nucleophilic reaction of dimsyl ion with aldehydes, ketones, and particularly esters (//). The reaction of dimsyl ion with nonenolizable ketones and... 

A 1.5 to 2 M solution of methylsulfinyl carbanion in dimethyl sulfoxide is prepared under nitrogen as above from sodium hydride and dry dimethyl sulfoxide. An equal volume of dry tetrahydrofuran is added and the solution is cooled in an ice bath during the addition, with stirring, of the ester (0.5 equivalent for each 1 equivalent of carbanion neat if liquid, or dissolved in dry tetrahydrofuran if solid) over a period of several minutes. The ice bath is removed and stirring is continued for 30 minutes. The reaction mixture is then poured into three times its volume of water, acidified with aqueous hydrochloric acid to a pH of 3-4 (pH paper), and thoroughly extracted with chloroform. The combined extracts are washed three times with water, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and evaporated to yield the jS-ketosulfoxide as a white or pale yellow crystalline solid. The crude product is triturated with cold ether or isopropyl ether and filtered to give the product in a good state of purity. 

NaH stirred ca. 45 min. at 65-70° under Ng in excess dimethyl sulfoxide until Hg-evolution is complete, allowed to react with 1 equivalent of ethyl triphenyl-phosphonium bromide, then with 0.85 equivalent of benzophenone 1,1-di-phenyl-l-propene. Y 97.5%.—The reactivity of the methylsulfinyl carbanion (formed by reaction of NaH with dimethyl sulfoxide), which is even more basic than the trityl anion, is sufficient to convert phosphonium salts into ylides thereby permitting a simple and convenient modification of the Wittig reaction. E. J. Gorey and M. Ghaykowsky, Am. Soc. 8A, 866 (1962) / -diketones from carboxylic acid esters and ketones (s. Synth. Meth. 6, 737), sym. ) -diketones, s. J. J. Bloomfield, J. Org. Chem. 27, 2742 (1962). 

The most general methods for the syntheses of 1,2-difunctional molecules are based on the oxidation of carbon-carbon multiple bonds (p. 117) and the opening of oxiranes by hetero atoms (p. 123fl.). There exist, however, also a few useful reactions in which an a - and a d -synthon or two r -synthons are combined. The classical polar reaction is the addition of cyanide anion to carbonyl groups, which leads to a-hydroxynitriles (cyanohydrins). It is used, for example, in Strecker s synthesis of amino acids and in the homologization of monosaccharides. The ff-hydroxy group of a nitrile can be easily substituted by various nucleophiles, the nitrile can be solvolyzed or reduced. Therefore a large variety of terminal difunctional molecules with one additional carbon atom can be made. Equally versatile are a-methylsulfinyl ketones (H.G. Hauthal, 1971 T. Durst, 1979 O. DeLucchi, 1991), which are available from acid chlorides or esters and the dimsyl anion. Carbanions of these compounds can also be used for the synthesis of 1,4-dicarbonyl compounds (p. 65f.). 

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