Nucleophilic substitution sulfonates

Sulfonate esters are exceedingly useful substrates in nucleophilic substitution reactions because of their high level of reactivity and because, unlike alkyl halides, they may be prepared from alcohols by reactions that do not directly involve the carbon atom at which subsequent substitution is to be effected. These properties are particularly important in cases where the stereochemical and structural integrity of the substrate must be maintained in converting an alcohol to a derivative capable of undergoing nucleophilic substitution. Sulfonate esters are commonly prepared by reaction of an alcohol with a sulfonyl halide in the presence of pyridine ... 

The higjily water-soluble dienophiles 2.4f and2.4g have been synthesised as outlined in Scheme 2.5. Both compounds were prepared from p-(bromomethyl)benzaldehyde (2.8) which was synthesised by reducing p-(bromomethyl)benzonitrile (2.7) with diisobutyl aluminium hydride following a literature procedure2.4f was obtained in two steps by conversion of 2.8 to the corresponding sodium sulfonate (2.9), followed by an aldol reaction with 2-acetylpyridine. In the preparation of 2.4g the sequence of steps had to be reversed Here, the aldol condensation of 2.8 with 2-acetylpyridine was followed by nucleophilic substitution of the bromide of 2.10 by trimethylamine. Attempts to prepare 2.4f from 2.10 by treatment with sodium sulfite failed, due to decomposition of 2.10 under the conditions required for the substitution by sulfite anion. 

Aromatic nucleophilic substitution of 2- or 5-halogenotltia20les (146 and 148) by sulfinate affoiMs an alternative method of preparation of sulfones (147 and 149) (Scheme 76) (170, 354-356). 

Alkyl sulfonate esters resemble alkyl halides m their ability to undergo ehmma tion and nucleophilic substitution... 

An advantage that sulfonate esters have over alkyl halides is that their prepara tion from alcohols does not involve any of the bonds to carbon The alcohol oxygen becomes the oxygen that connects the alkyl group to the sulfonyl group Thus the configuration of a sulfonate ester is exactly the same as that of the alcohol from which It was prepared If we wish to study the stereochemistry of nucleophilic substitution m an optically active substrate for example we know that a tosylate ester will have the same configuration and the same optical purity as the alcohol from which it was prepared... 

The mechanisms by which sulfonate esters undergo nucleophilic substitution are the same as those of alkyl halides Inversion of configuration is observed m 8 2 reac tions of alkyl sulfonates and predominant inversion accompanied by racemization m 8 1 processes... 

Delignification Chemistty. The chemical mechanism of sulfite delignification is not fully understood. However, the chemistry of model compounds has been studied extensively, and attempts have been made to correlate the results with observations on the rates and conditions of delignification (61). The initial reaction is sulfonation of the aUphatic side chain, which occurs almost exclusively at the a-carbon by a nucleophilic substitution. The substitution displaces either a hydroxy or alkoxy group ... 

The apphcation of bimolecular, nucleophilic substitution (S ) reactions to sucrose sulfonates has led to a number of deoxhalogeno derivatives. Selective displacement reactions of tosyl (79,85), mesyl (86), and tripsyl (84,87) derivatives of sucrose with different nucleophiles have been reported. The order of reactivity of the sulfonate groups in sucrose toward reaction has been found to be 6 > 6 > 4 > 1. ... 

SuIfona.tlon, The sulfonic acid group is used extensively in the dyes industry for its water-solubilizing properties, and for its ability to act as a good leaving group in nucleophilic substitutions. It is used almost exclusively for these purposes since it has only a minor effect on the color of a dye. 

It is possible to introduce sulfonic acid groups by alternative methods, but these ate Htde used in the dyes industry. However, one worth mentioning is sulfitation, because it provides an example of the introduction of a sulfonic acid group by nucleophilic substitution. The process involves treating an active halogen compound with sodium sulfite. This reaction is used in the purification of m-dinitrohen7ene. 

Fiber-Reactive Dyes. These dyes can enter iato chemical reaction with the fiber and form a covalent bond to become an iategral part of the fiber polymer. They therefore have exceptional wetfastness. Thein main use is on ceUulosic fibers where they are appHed neutral and then chemical reaction is initiated by the addition of alkaH. Reaction with the ceUulose can be by either nucleophilic substitution, using, for example, dyes containing activated halogen substituents, or by addition to the double bond in, for example, vinyl sulfone, —S02CH=CH2, groups. 

For many secondary sulfonates, nucleophilic substitution seems to be best explained by a concerted mechanism with a high degree of carbocation character at the transition state. This has been described as an exploded transition state. Both the breaking and forming bonds are relatively weak so that the carbon has a substantial positive charge. However, the carbocation per se has no lifetime because bond breaking and fonnadon occur concurrently."... 

Nucleophilic substitution reactions that occur imder conditions of amine diazotization often have significantly different stereochemisby, as compared with that in halide or sulfonate solvolysis. Diazotization generates an alkyl diazonium ion, which rapidly decomposes to a carbocation, molecular nitrogen, and water ... 

Conversion to p-toluenesulfonate esters (Section 8.14) Alcohols react with p-toluenesulfonyl chloride to give p-toluenesulfonate esters. Sulfonate esters are reactive substrates for nucleophilic substitution and elimination reactions. The p-toluenesulfonate group is often abbreviated —OTs. 

The reaction of 3-methoxy-1,2,4-triazine 1-oxide 20 with the carbanion generated from chloromethyl phenyl sulfone proceeds as the vicarious nucleophilic substitution (VNS) of hydrogen (Scheme 1, path B) via addition of the carbanion at position 5 of the heterocycle. Following base-induced elimination of HCl and protonation, 3-methoxy-5-phenylsulfonyl-1,2,4-triazine 4-oxides 65 result (88LA627). 

Nucleophilic substitutions of halogen by the addition-elimination pathway in electron-deficient six-membered hetarenes by sulfinate anions under formation of sulfones have been described earlier120. The corresponding electron-poor arenes behave similarly121 (equation 30). A special type of this reaction represents the inverse Smiles rearrangement in equation 31122. 

Besides radical additions to unsaturated C—C bonds (Section III.B.l) and sulfene reactions (see above), sulfonyl halides are able to furnish sulfones by nucleophilic substitution of halide by appropriate C-nucleophiles. Undesired radical reactions are suppressed by avoiding heat, irradiation, radical initiators, transition-element ion catalysis, and unsuitable halogens. However, a second type of undesired reaction can occur by transfer of halogen instead of sulfonyl groups283-286 (which becomes the main reaction, e.g. with sulfuryl chloride). Normally, both types of undesired side-reaction can be avoided by utilizing sulfonyl fluorides. 

This chapter deals with (1) the transformation of the sulfone functionality into other functional groups by nucleophilic substitution reaction, and (2) the addition and elimination reaction of a,/i-unsaturated sulfones. Particular attention will be paid to recent uses of sulfones in organic syntheses1. 

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