Oxidative activation thianthrene, oxidation

Mislow and co-workers (258) and Hammond (259) have shown that optically active diaryl sulfoxides, which are configurationally stable in the dark at 200°C, lose their optical activity after 1 hr at room temperature on irradiation with ultraviolet light. Similarly, an easy conversion of the trans isomer of thianthrene-5,10-oxide 206a into the thermodynamically more stable cis isomer takes place upon irradiation in dioxane for 2 hr. However, the behavior of a-naphthylethyl p-tolyl sulfoxide under comparable irradiation conditions is different, namely, it is completely decomposed after 4 min. These differences are not surprising because the photochemical racemization of diaryl sulfoxides occurs by way of the pyramidal inversion mechanism whereas decomposition of the latter sulfoxide occurs via a radical mechanism with the cleavage of the sulfur-carbon bond. It is interesting to note that photoracemization may be a zero-order process in which the rate depends only on the intensity of the radiation and on the quantum yield. 

In Studying asymmetric oxidation of methyl p-tolyl sulfide, employing Ti(OPr-/)4 as catalyst and optically active alkyl hydroperoxides as oxidants, Adam and coworkers collected experimental evidence on the occurrence of the coordination of the sulfoxide to the metal center. Therefore, also in this case the incursion of the nucleophilic oxygen transfer as a mechanism can be invoked. The authors also used thianthrene 5-oxide as a mechanistic probe to prove the nucleophilic character of the oxidant. 

Computational studies showed that the nature of the reactive species in the oxidation of trimethylamine, iodide ion, and dimethyl sulfide with lumiflavin is a C4 a-hydroperoxide complexed with water. The other two species, C4 a-hydroperoxide and C4 a-peroxide, yielded higher activation energies.237 Kinetic and spectroscopic studies on the effect of basic solvents, ethers, esters, and amides, on the oxidation of thianthrene-5-oxide with substituted peroxybenzoic acids indicated the involvement of the basic solvent in the transition state of the reactions. A solvent parameter, Xtc, based on the ratio of the trans to the cis form of thianthrene-5,10-dioxide, has been introduced.238... 

The direct synthesis of fully functionalized sugars possessing amino or hydroxyl functions at C-2 has also been studied. Thus, activation of glycals by thianthrene-5-oxide 287 and Tf20, followed by treatment with an amide nucleophile and a glycosyl acceptor, led directly to various 2-acylamido glycosides 288 [610,611] (Scheme 4.59). 

The cation radical of thianthrene (LVII" ") has been subject of extensive investigation [3, 187]. Voltammetric experiments with thianthrene (LVII) when carried out in the presence of TEA and its anhydride or activated neutral alumina gave reversible oxidation potentials in a variety of solvents, and disproportionation equilibrium constants, Xd,sp, were calculated [190]. Accurate values of X isp are important in the mechanistic evaluation for the reaction of LVII" with nucleophiles and have been used to rule out the disproportionation pathway, such as the reaction with water [191]. 

Thianthrene oxide, described in lit. [W.Adam, J.Am.Chem.Soc 113. 6202-6208 (1991)] as a mechanistic probe for oxidation processes, was applied under aqueous conditions to investigate the behaviour of several bleach active materials of detergent formulations. 

The synthesis of 5-arylthianthrenium salts, 8, [CRI 02a, CRI 04] can be carried out by the condensation of thianthrene-S-oxide with various aromatic compounds bearing electron-donating substituents, R, as depicted in equation [2.1], A mixture of methanesulfonic acid and phosphorous pentoxide serves as an acid catalyst and dehydrating agent for this reaction. Replacement of the methanesulfonate anion by a metathetical reaction with NaMtXn affords the desired active photoinitiator, 8. Depending on the specific R substituent, 5-arylthianthrenium photoinitiators have UV absorption maxima in the range of 300-400 nm. 

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