2-Pyridyl selenides

Synthesis of alkenes. Terminal alkenes are formed in good yield by oxidation of primary alkyl 2-pyridyl selenides with a slight excess of H202 (equation I). The same reaction with primary alkyl phenyl selenides proceeds in much lower yield. 

The selenoxide elimination of primary alkyl 2-pyridyl selenides to give terminal alkcnes also proceeds in higher yield than the corresponding reaction with alkyl phenyl selenides.2 Example ... 

Unlike Af-hydroxy-2-thiopyridone, TV-hydroxy-2-selenopyridone is rather unstable and is easily oxidized. However, once photolytic treatment of O-acyl ester (53) of AMiydroxy-2-selenopyridone is carried out, the formed 2-pyridyl selenide is very useful. Thus, elimination of the selenoxides, formed from the oxidation of the selenide with mCPBA or ozone, proceeds effectively at low temperature. For example, eq. 8.23 shows the preparation of (l)-vinylglycine (56) from (L)-glutamic acid without racemization at all [70]. 

A mild, but indirect, approach to oxidative decarboxylation involves a modification of the 0-acyl thiohydroxamate decarboxylative rearrangement (Section 5.4.6.1). An 0-acyl selenohydroxamate is photolyzed to give a noralkyl-2-pyridyl selenide which, after ozonolysis to the selenoxide, undergoes syn elimination to the alkene (equation IS). 

The oxidative elimination of primary selenides, readily available from the corresponding alcohol by treatment with an arylselenocyanate and tributylphosphine, is an attractive approach to the synthesis of terminal alkenes." However these reactions are relatively slow when compared with other selenoxide eliminations allowing side reactions, in particular the addition of the areneselenenic acid to the newly formed double bond (Scheme 23), to compete. It has been found that arylselenides with electron-withdrawing substituents fragment more readily, giving improved yields of products, in particular the use of o-nitrophenyl and 2-pyridyl selenides has been recommended (Scheme 37). Often for the elimina-... 

Scheme 11. Synthesis of L-vinylglycine via the alkyl-2-pyridyl selenide [16]...

Fig. 4) becomes more pronounced at the phosphorus atom in the hypervalent compound. Calculation of the aromaticity% [127] revealed similar tendencies. While phosphole itself exhibits 18% aromatic character, for phosphole oxide -13% has been reported [176], It is noteworthy that for 1-methoxyephosphole and 1-fluoro-phosphole small negative values (-4.9% and -9.2%) were also obtained, in agreement with the conclusions of Mathey and coworkers [169]. Also, the phosphole sulfide and selenide exhibited smaller antiaromaticity (-11.6% and - 9.7%, respectively) [176] than the oxide, in agreement with the data in Table 2 [61]. It is also worth noting that the decrease of the NICS value and the conjugation upon sulfur addition has been noted in a phosphole-thienyl and a phosphole-pyridyl oligomer by Delare et al. [177],... 

Lithiated allyl sulfides (in common with allyl sulfoxides and selenides, but in contrast with allyl ethers and allyl amine derivatives) tend to react with alkyl halides at the a position, adjacent to S.1 The best a-selectivities are obtained with lithium-coordinating S-substituents such as pyridyl (114),85 imidazolyl (115), and dimethylaminocarbonyl (116).1... 

Asymmetric [2,3]sigmatropic rearrangements can proceed via optically active selenoxides. It has been shown that the Davis oxidant 158 can be used for the oxidation of selenides such as 172. The reaction product, after oxidation and rearrangement, is the allylic alcohol 173 formed with 35% ee (Scheme 50).279,282 Also Sharpless conditions (Ti(/ -PrO)4, (+)-DIPT, /-BuOOH) have been applied to this reaction and the product has been obtained in 69% ee. When, however, the phenyl selenide moiety in 172 is replaced with an or/ < -nitrophenyl selenide, the selectivity is increased to 92% ee in the allylic alcohol 173 using Sharpless conditions.296 Other selenides such as 2 -pyridyl or ferrocenyl selenides gave much lower selectivities. 

Related results have been described from pyridyl alkenyl selenides which, contrary to odier aryl alkenyl selenides (see below)," are easily metallated at the vinyl site with LDA (Scheme 48, compare i and j with f and h). The ready deprotonation and stereoselective methylation of these selertides have been ascribed to the presence of the nitrogen atom which can reduce the electron density of the double bond and also chelate with the lithium counterion." "... 

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