Sigmatropic rearrangements applied

Well known carbanionic sigmatropic rearrangements, applied to mixed P and S compounds, regio- and/or stereoselectively lead to new (a-sulfanylalkyl) or P-sulfanylaryl) phosphonates, phosphine oxides, or phosphorodiamidates. In these difunctional compounds, chirality can be either introduced on the phosphorus, on the a-carbon, or on the sulfur atom. 

In addition to the synthetic applications related to the stereoselective or stereospecific syntheses of various systems, especially natural products, described in the previous subsection, a number of general synthetic uses of the reversible [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of allylic sulfoxides are presented below. Several investigators110-113 have employed the allylic sulfenate-to-sulfoxide equilibrium in combination with the syn elimination of the latter as a method for the synthesis of conjugated dienes. For example, Reich and coworkers110,111 have reported a detailed study on the conversion of allylic alcohols to 1,3-dienes by sequential sulfenate sulfoxide rearrangement and syn elimination of the sulfoxide. This method of mild and efficient 1,4-dehydration of allylic alcohols has also been shown to proceed with overall cis stereochemistry in cyclic systems, as illustrated by equation 25. The reaction of trans-46 proceeds almost instantaneously at room temperature, while that of the cis-alcohol is much slower. This method has been subsequently applied for the synthesis of several natural products, such as the stereoselective transformation of the allylic alcohol 48 into the sex pheromone of the Red Bollworm Moth (49)112 and the conversion of isocodeine (50) into 6-demethoxythebaine (51)113. 

Olefins analogous to 158 and 159 were also isolated from the CuS04-catalyzed decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of 2-isopropenyl-2-methyl-1,3-dithiane (total yield 56%, E Z — 4 1) a butadiene was absent from the reaction mixture 161). With dimethyl diazomalonate instead of ethyl diazoacetate, only the Z-olefin resulting from a [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of the corresponding sulfur ylide was obtained in 36 % yield 161). When the same procedure was applied to... 

Besides the selection rules, which are based on the conservation of orbital symmetry, for sigmatropic rearrangements of order [ij] it is possible to demonstrate that the following correlations will always apply ... 

The mechanistic basis of sigmatropic rearrangements was introduced in Chapter 11 of Part A. The sigmatropic process that is most widely applied in synthesis is the [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement. The principles of orbital symmetry establish that concerted... 

This type of stereoselective reaction, in which a chiral unit is created and another destroyed, has been termed self-immolative by Mislow39 and an asymmetric transfer process by Pracejus40. Both terms are in use. but the latter is gaining ground in the mutated form of "chirality transfer 41, which is most often applied to sigmatropic rearrangement reactions such as the following37 ... 

Nitrene transfer to selenide is also possible. Catalytic asymmetric induction in this process has been studied with Cu(OTf)/bis(oxazoline) catalyst (Scheme 22). When prochiral selenide 206 and TsN=IPh are allowed to react in the presence of Cu(OTf)/chiral bis(oxazoline) 122b, selenimide 207 is obtained with enantioselectivity of 20-36% ee. When arylcinnamyl selenide 208 is applied to this reaction, corresponding selenimide 209 is produced which undergoes [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement to afford chiral allylic amides 211 in up to 30% ee. 

This [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangement process, which represents a variant of the well-known Biichi reaction, does proceed through a transition state geometry which is boatlike in character. The rearrangement reaction has been applied to other lactones as well. One rather interesting example is provided by the rearrangement of the cls-fused lactone (646) to the bicyclic carboxylic acid (647 Scheme 148). 

The approach of the two orbitals on the same side of the surface is called supra , that on opposite sides is called antara . The above rules, 1 and 2, also apply in the case of sigmatropic rearrangements, since the changes of orbital symmetries are the same on going from a HOMO to a LUMO or from a chain of 4n to a chain of 4n + 2 tt electrons. 

In contrast, applying frontier orbital theory to unimolecular reactions like electrocyclic reactions and sigmatropic rearrangements is inherently contrived, since we have artificially to treat a single molecule as having separate components, in order to have any frontier orbitals at all. Furthermore, frontier orbital theory does not explain why the barrier to forbidden reactions is so high—whenever it has been measured, the transition structure for the forbidden pathway has been 40 kJ mol-1 or more above that for the allowed pathway. Frontier orbital theory is much better at dealing with small differences in reactivity. 

This conclusion has been applied in the Ireland-Claisen rearrangement 5.56 —> 5.58, which is one of the most frequently used [3,3] sigmatropic rearrangements, because it sets up two usefully substituted stereogenic centres with high levels of predictability, stemming from the chair-like transition structure 5.57. 

The oxonium ylide 390 is generated by the interaction of carbene with the unshared electron pair of the oxygen atom of ether 389, and subsequent sigmatropic rearrangement affords 391 [126]. The reaction was applied to the diastereoselective construction of 2,8-dioxabicyclo[3.2.1]octane, the core system 394 of zaragozic acid. The Rh-catalysed reaction of diazo ester 392 generates the bicyclic oxonium ylide 393 from the acetal, and its exocyclic 2,3-shift affords 394 [127]. 

The selection rules for sigmatropic rearrangements were derived for open-chain systems. A priori, it is not obvious that they also apply to cyclic systems. Using the PMO method, show that the following sigmatropic migrations21 are allowed ... 

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. 

The 1,3-dipolar intermeditate V/149 is then transformed to the ten-mem-bered dichlorolactone V/151 by a [3.3] sigmatropic rearrangement. The side product, V/152, is obtained by a [2+2] cycloaddition [72] [74]. Under standard conditions, the dichlorolactone, V/151, was converted to phoracantholide I (V/130). Dechlorination of V/151 gave V/153 which was converted to phoracantholide J, V/154, by irradiation. Both phoracantholides are occurring naturally, see Chapter VII.2. The same technique has been applied to the synthesis of other products [73] [74],... 

---