Preparation of Sulfonamides and Sulfinamides

The clean conversion of support-bound, primary amines into sulfonamides by treatment with sulfonyl chlorides is more difficult to perform than the acylation of amines with carboxylic acid derivatives, probably because of the oxidizing properties of sulfonyl chlorides and because primary amines can be doubly sulfonylated. Weak bases (pyridine, 2,6-lutidine, NMM, collidine), short reaction times, and only a slight excess of sulfonyl chloride should therefore be used to convert primary amines into sulfonamides (Table 8.7). 

Sulfonyl chlorides having an a-hydrogen are unstable under basic reaction conditions and can give variable results [96,97]. For base-labile sulfonyl chlorides, the use of O-silyl ketene acetals as scavengers for HC1 has been recommended [96]. Table 8.7 lists some illustrative procedures for the preparation of sulfonamides from primary amines on solid phase. Further examples have been reported [98-101]. 

Support-bound secondary amines are more readily sulfonylated than primary amines, as shown by the many examples reported in the literature (Table 8.8 [117— 121]). Typically, the sulfonylation of polystyrene-bound amines is conducted in DCM, but THF [122], DMF [97,123], pyridine [124], or mixtures thereof can sometimes give better results [105]. NMM, DIPEA, and pyridine have mainly been used as bases. 

Alternatively, sulfonamides can also be prepared by oxidation of sulfinamides with periodate (Entry 3, Table 8.8) or with MCPBA [125]. Polystyrene-bound sulfonyl chlorides, which can be prepared from polystyrene-bound sulfonic acids by treatment with PCI5, SOCI2 [126-129], CISO3H [130], or SO2CI2/PPI13 [131], react smoothly with amines to yield the corresponding sulfonamides (Entry 4, Table 8.8). Support-bound carbamates of primary aliphatic or aromatic amines can be N-sulfonylated in the presence of strong bases, and can therefore be used as backbone amide linkers for sulfonamides (Entries 5 and 6, Table 8.8). 

Sulfonamides of primary amines are readily deprotonated (pAia 9-11) and can thus be N-alkylated or N-arylated. Because of their high nucleophilicity and low basicity, deprotonated sulfonamides also react smoothly with less reactive electrophiles, such as n-alkyl bromides [136] (Table 8.9). Sulfonamides can also be N-alkylated with aliphatic alcohols under Mitsunobu conditions. Suitable solvents for the N-alkylation of sulfonamides on polystyrene by Mitsunobu reaction are DCM, toluene, and THF. 

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Preparation of Sulfonamides and Sulfinamides 249 Table 8.8. Miscellaneous preparations of sulfonamides from sulfonyl chlorides and from sulfinamides. 

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