Methylids, sulfur

Ring expansion of activated aziridines (43) with sulfur ylides also provides a synthesis of azetidines (75JOC2990, 58BSF345, 81CC417). The highly reactive sulfonium methylide (44 R = R = H) undergoes further reaction with the azetidines (46), but the reaction is satisfactory for substituted methylides. The less reactive sulfoxonium methylide (45 R = R = H)... 

The Corey-Chaykovsky reaction entails the reaction of a sulfur ylide, either dimethylsulfoxonium methylide (1, Corey s ylide, sometimes known as DMSY) or dimethylsulfonium methylide (2), with electrophile 3 such as carbonyl, olefin, imine, or thiocarbonyl, to offer 4 as the corresponding epoxide, cyclopropane, aziridine, or thiirane. ... 

In the initial report by Corey and Chaykovsky, dimethylsulfonium methylide (2) reacted smoothly with benzalaniline to provide an entry to 1,2-diphenylaziridine 67. Franzen and Driesen reported the same reaction with 81% yield for 67. In another example, benzylidene-phenylamine reacted with 2 to produce l-(p-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenylaziridine in 71% yield. The same reaction was also carried out using phase-transfer catalysis conditions.Thus aziridine 68 could be generated consistently in good yield (80-94%). Recently, more complex sulfur ylides have been employed to make more functionalized aziridines, as depicted by the reaction between A -sulfonylimine 69 with diphenylsulfonium 3-(trimethylsilyl)propargylide (70) to afford aziridine 71, along with desilylated aziridine 72. ... 

These pioneer studies laid dormant until 1977 and, influenced by Kondo and colleagues [59] reports on the synthesis of po]y(vinylsulfonium yiide) with a trivaient sulfur attached directly to the polymer chain, poly[ethyl-vinylsulfonium bis-(methoxycarbonyl) methylide] (Scheme 25) was prepared by irradiation of a benzene... 

Previously, the same author [52] reported that compounds containing the tricoordinated sulfur cation, such as the triphenylsulfonium salt, worked as effective initiators in the free radical polymerization of MMA and styrene [52]. Because of the structural similarity of sulfonium salt and ylide, diphenyloxosulfonium bis-(me-thoxycarbonyl) methylide (POSY) (Scheme 28), which contains a tetracoordinated sulfur cation, was used as a photoinitiator by Kondo et al. [63] for the polymerization of MMA and styrene. The photopolymerization was carried out with a high-pressure mercury lamp the orders of reaction with respect to [POSY] and [MMA] were 0.5 and 1.0, respectively, as expected for radical polymerization. 

Recently, in connection with the use of sulfur ylides in polymerization, Kondo and his coworkers [64] attempted to use diphenylsulfonium bis(methoxycarbo-nyl)methylide (DPSY) (Schemes 27, 29) methylphen-ylsulfonium bis-(methoxycarbonyl)methylide (MPSY) (Scheme 30) and dimethylsulfonium bis (methoxycar-bonyl) methylide (DMSY) (Scheme 31) as photoinitiators for the polymerization of MMA and styrene. They concluded that DPSY and MPSY are effective photoini-... 

Double-bond compounds that undergo the Michael reaction (15-21) can be converted to cyclopropane derivatives with sulfur ylids. Among the most common of these is dimethyloxosulfonium methylid (109), which is widely used to... 

Aldehydes and ketones can be converted to epoxides in good yields with the sulfur ylids dimethyloxosulfonium methylid (60) and dimethylsulfonium methylid (61). For most purposes, 60 is the reagent of choice, because 61 is much less... 

Sulfur ylides have several applications as reagents in synthesis.282 Dimethylsul-fonium methylide and dimethylsulfoxonium methylide are particularly useful.283 These sulfur ylides are prepared by deprotonation of the corresponding sulfonium salts, both of which are commercially available. 

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 following types of dipolarophiles have been used successfully to synthesize five-membered heterocycles containing three heteroatoms by [3 + 2]-cycloaddition of thiocarbonyl ylides azo compounds, nitroso compounds, sulfur dioxide, and Al-sulfiny-lamines. As was reported by Huisgen and co-workers (91), azodicarboxylates were noted to be superior dipolarophiles in reactions with thiocarbonyl ylides. Differently substituted l,3,4-thiadiazolidine-3,4-dicarboxylates of type 132 have been prepared using aromatic and aliphatic thioketone (5)-methylides (172). Bicyclic products (133) were also obtained using A-phenyl l,2,4-triazoline-3,5-dione (173,174). 

Sulfur dioxide reacts with aliphatic thioketone (5)-methylides in a sealed tube at 100 °C and l,2,4-oxadithiolane-2-oxides (138) are obtained. None of the regioiso-meric cycloadduct was formed (177). 

Dimethyloxosulfonium methylide reacts with the triketone (212) to give the fused 2-hydroxymethylenedihydropyran (213) (76H(4)1755). The reaction is thought to proceed through a zwitterion and the epoxide as indicated in Scheme 41. Intramolecular nucleophilic attack leads to the dihydropyran and the overall process may be regarded as a transfer of methylene from the sulfur ylide. 

Dimethylsulfoxonium methylide (DMSY, also referred to as Corey s reagent) is a convenient methylene transfer reagent. It appears to be the most used sulfur ylide and a Tetrahedron Report [455] covers most of its chemistry (345 references). In contrast to dimethylsulfonium methylide, which must be used as soon as it is formed, DMSY is much more stable and can be stored for several days at room temperature. It is the reagent of choice in many instances. However, with a,(3-unsaturated ketones the two reagents react in different ways, as shown for cyclohexenone. 

Ylides based upon sulfur are the most generally useful in these cyclopropane-forming reactions.133 Early work in this area was done with the simple dimethyloxysulfonium methylide (9) derived from dimethyl sulfoxide. The even simpler dimethylsulfonium methylide (10) was studied at the same time as a reagent primarily for the conversion of carbonyl compounds into epoxides.134 Somewhat later, other types of sulfur ylides were developed, among which the nitrogen-substituted derivatives such as (11) are... 

The reaction of optically active (l-diethoxyphosphoryl)vinyl p-tolyl sulfoxide (20) with sulfur ylides has provided the corresponding cyclopropanes (21) in high yields (g) (Scheme 10).52,53 With fully deuterated dimethyl(oxo)sulfonium methylide, (CD3)2 S(0)CD2, the cyclopropanation reaction occurred in a highly diastereoselective... 

The intermediacy of such oxaspiropentanes has been proposed in the addition of diazomethane to ketonesi0) and in the reaction of dimethyloxosulfonium methylide with a-haloketones55). In contrast to phosphorous ylides, sulfur ylides usually condense with carbonyl compounds to yield epoxides, thus reaction of the N,N-dimethylaminophenyloxosulfonium cyclopropylide 99 with cyclohexanone produced the dispiroepoxide 100 which rearranged to the spiro [3.5] nonan-l-one 101 upon isolation by gas chromatography, Eq. (29) S6). 

Unstabilized sulfonium ylides such as dimethylsulfonium methylide (3.45) and stabilized sulfoxonium ylides such as dimethylsulfoxonium methylide (3.46) are the most widely used sulfur ylides. 

An interesting asymmetric carbon-sulfur bond formation occurs during the interaction of thiofenchone-S-methylide 21 with 1.1 equivalents of thiophenol in tetrahydrofuran. Two thioac-etals 22 are formed in 94% yield. The ratio of diastereomers, originally 7 3, is reversed to 1 9 on contact with silica gel. It was suggested that the latter ratio refers to the equilibrium139. 

The use of sulfur in place of the phosphorus brings about a different mode of decomposition of the intermediate betaine. Two sulfur ylides, dimethylsulfonium methylide (Scheme 3.49a) and dimethylsulfoxonium methylide (Scheme 3.49b), have been used. Both ylides react with ketones to give epoxides, but the stereochemistry may differ. 

Dimethylsulfoxonium methylide reacts with AT-selenoacylamidines to give 4,5-dihydro-l,3-selenazoles 33. The reaction pathway involves the addition of the sulfur ylide to the imine bond of the heterodienes, and then cyclization by a subsequent intramolecular substitution of the dimethylsulfoxonium leaving group (Scheme 17) <1998T2545>. 

Dialkylamino-aryloxosulfonium alkylides may be employed for enantioselective epoxidation if the ylide with its chiral sulfur center is resolved into its enantiomeric form, " An enantioselective oxirane is obtained by means of a chiral phase-transfer catalyzed procedure with dimethylsulfonium methylide. The utilization of arsonium ylides was reported some time ago. ° A highly stereoselective synthesis of trans-epoxides with triphenylarsonium ethylide has recently been described.Optically active arsonium ylide has been used in the asymmetric synthesis of diaryloxiranes. ... 

These two reports clearly demonstrate that thiophene can form ylids, despite the considerably reduced nucleophilicity of the sulfur atom and that stable thiophenium ylids might be found. This was subsequently confirmed with the observation that the photolysis of dimethyl diazomalonate in thiophene result in the formation of 15, which was isolated in low yield as a stable crystalline solid (77JOC3365). It was subsequently demonstrated by my own group that thiophenium bis(alkoxycarbonyl)methylides could be formed in high yield using rhodium(II) acetate-catalyzed addition of diazomalonate... 

Carbenic fragmentation is formally the reverse of addition of carbenes to the sulfur atom of the thiophene ring, and has been observed only with 2,5-dichlorothiophenium bis(alkoxycarbonyl)methylides (30). When 30 (R = CHj) is heated at 110°C in refluxing toluene in the presence of rhodium(II) acetate or copper(II) acetylacetonate, fragmentation of the ylid to 2,5-dichlorothiophene and the carbenoid occurs. The bis(methoxycarbonyl)-carbene has been trapped with alkenes to produce high yields of the cyclopropanated products (78CC641). Since the ylid is a stable crystalline solid with a long shelf life, it represents a convenient source of bis-(methoxycarbonyl)carbene. 

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