Leaving groups sulfuration reactions

An alternative to the synthesis of thioethers in which sulfur is a nucleophile, is a synthesis in which sulfur bears a leaving group. The reaction of a carbanion with a sul-fenyl halide should, in principle, constitute a synthesis of thioethers. Such a reaction of sulfenyl halides has not yet been reported but the case in which sulfur is rendered electrophilic by attached cyano, has been [10]. Thus, benzylthiocyanate reacts with trichloromethide ion (generated from chloroform under phase transfer conditions) according to equation 13.6 to yield (80%) of benzyl trichloromethyl thioether [10]. 

Nitrogen nucleophiles used to diplace the 3 -acetoxy group include substituted pyridines, quinolines, pyrimidines, triazoles, pyrazoles, azide, and even aniline and methylaniline if the pH is controlled at 7.5. Sulfur nucleophiles include aLkylthiols, thiosulfate, thio and dithio acids, carbamates and carbonates, thioureas, thioamides, and most importandy, from a biological viewpoint, heterocycHc thiols. The yields of the displacement reactions vary widely. Two general approaches for improving 3 -acetoxy displacement have been reported. One approach involves initial, or in situ conversion of the acetoxy moiety to a more facile leaving group. The other approach utilizes Lewis or Brmnsted acid activation (87). 

Inspection of the citrate structure shows a total of four chemically equivalent hydrogens, but only one of these—the pro-/J H atom of the pro-i arm of citrate—is abstracted by aeonitase, which is quite stereospecific. Formation of the double bond of aconitate following proton abstraction requires departure of hydroxide ion from the C-3 position. Hydroxide is a relatively poor leaving group, and its departure is facilitated in the aeonitase reaction by coordination with an iron atom in an iron-sulfur cluster. 

Similar to phosphur ylides, sulfur ylides 1 and 2 possess the nucleophilic site at the carbon atom and the pendant leaving group at the heteroatom (sulfur). Different from the Wittig reaction, the Corey-Chaykovsky reaction does not lead to olefins. 

An a-halosulfone 1 reacts with a base by deprotonation at the a -position to give a carbanionic species 3. An intramolecular nucleophilic substitution reaction, with the halogen substituent taking the part of the leaving group, then leads to formation of an intermediate episulfone 4 and the halide anion. This mechanism is supported by the fact that the episulfone 4 could be isolated. Subsequent extrusion of sulfur dioxide from 4 yields the alkene 2 ... 

As shown, an asymmetric carboxylic-sulfonic acid anhydride is formed, but the cellulose attack occurs on the C = O group, since a nucleophilic attack on sulfur is slow, and the tosylate moiety is a much better leaving group than the carboxylate group [193]. Similar to other acylation reactions, there is a large preference for tosylation at the 5 position, and cellulose tosylates... 

The reactions in this chapter are classified according to the attacking atom of the nucleophile in the order O, S, N, halogen, H, C. For a given nucleophile, reactions are classified by the substrate and leaving group, with alkyl substrates usually considered before acyl ones. Nucleophilic substitutions at a sulfur atom are treated at the end. 

The decarbonylation of aromatic aldehydes with sulfuric acid" is the reverse of the Gatterman-Koch reaction (11-16). It has been carried out with trialkyl- and trialkoxybenzaldehydes. The reaction takes place by the ordinary arenium ion mechanism the attacking species is H and the leaving group is HCO, which can lose a proton to give CO or combine with OH from the water solvent to give formic acid." Aromatic aldehydes have also been decarbonylated with basic catalysts." When basic catalysts are used, the mechanism is probably similar to the SeI process of 11-38. See also 14-39. 

Whereas phosphonium ylides normally react with carbonyl compounds to give alkenes, dimethylsulfonium methylide and dimethylsulfoxonium methylide yield epoxides. Instead of a four-center elimination, the adducts from the sulfur ylides undergo intramolecular displacement of the sulfur substituent by oxygen. In this reaction, the sulfur substituent serves both to promote anion formation and as the leaving group. 

The minimum-energy TSs are planar and the O—H and C—H bond orders were usually less than 0.4 and less than 0.5, respectively, and the S—C bond order was less than 0.5. The C-C bond order was around 1.3. The reaction can be described as a concerted intramolecular proton transfer, with the sulfoxide oxygen acting as a base and the sulfur as a leaving group. 

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