Sulfenate esters

A nitrophenylsulfenate, cleaved by nucleophiles under very mild conditions, was developed as protection for a hydroxyl group during solid-phase nucleotide synthesis. The sulfenate ester is stable to the acidic hydrolysis of acetonides. ... 

The main primary fragment ions of diaryl sulfoxides 13 and 14 have the structures 16a or 16b(C8H7S02 + m/z 167) and the ion m/z 152 (17) can be obtained from both by the loss of CH3 (equation 5)13. Ions 16a and 16b are formed from the sulfenate ester structure of the molecular ions of 13 and 14 through a cyclization process and a simultaneous loss of the other O Ar part. A similar ortho effect is not possible in 15 and hence its most intense ion is M+ (23% of the total ionization in comparison with 2.7 and 0.6% for 13 and 14, respectively) and its primary fragments are typical for a normal diaryl sulfoxide. 

Both benzothieno[3,2-b]pyridine 5-oxide (31) and thieno[3,2-b 4,5-b ]dipyridine 5-oxide (32) exhibit competitive loss of oxygen either as an atom or as carbon monoxide after initial skeletal rearrangement, e.g. to sulfenate esters (equation 10)18b. These results together with some data for Y-oxides indicate that the presence of an intense [M — 16] + peak is not diagnostic for the latter only. 

Owing to the reversible nature of the allylic sulfenate/allylic sulfoxide interconversion, the stereochemical outcome of both processes is treated below in an integrated manner. However, before beginning the discussion of this subject it is important to point out that although the allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement is reversible, and although the sulfenate ester is usually in low equilibrium concentration with the isomeric sulfoxide, desulfurization of the sulfenate by thiophilic interception using various nucleophiles, such as thiophenoxide or secondary amines, removes it from equilibrium, and provides a useful route to allylic alcohols (equation 11). 

In another synthetic application, first reported by Smith and Stirling142, the bis-2,3-(phenylsulfinyl)-l, 3-butadiene 94 has been prepared in low yield by two spontaneous sequential [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangements of the Ws-sulfenate ester (93). More recently, the yield of this reaction (equation 42) has been improved159, and a related dienyl sulfoxide 95 has been reported (equation 43)160. This type of sulfoxide is of considerable interest in view of recent studies on Diels-Alder reactions of polysubstituted butadienes161-164. 

The above explains the key roles of (a) the nucleophilicity of the nucleophile (b) the substituent(s) (c) the polarity of the reaction medium and (d) the the bulkiness of the nucleophile, in determining the regio- and stereo-specificity of the reaction. The reaction of alkyl chloromethyl ethers with thiirane oxides to give sulfenic esters appears to be mechanistically analogous. 

Deprotonation of allylic aryl sulfoxides leads to allylic carbanions which react with aldehyde electrophiles at the carbon atom a and also y to sulfur . With benzaldehyde at — 10 °C y-alkylation predominates , whereas with aliphatic aldehydes at — 78 °C in the presence of HMPA a-alkylation predominates . When the a-alkylated products, which themselves are allylic sulfoxides, undergo 2,3-sigmatropic rearrangement, the rearranged compounds (i.e., allylic sulfenate esters) can be trapped with thiophiles to produce overall ( )-l,4-dihydroxyalkenes (equation 24). When a-substituted aldehydes are used as electrophiles, formation of syn-diols 27 occurs in 40-67% yields with diastereoselectivities ranging from 2-28 1 (equation 24) . ... 

Both Chou (1974) and Davis and Friedman (1976) have shown that sulfenic acids can also be trapped effectively by (CH3)3SiCl to afford trimethylsilyl sulfenate esters, RSOSi(CH3)3. 

The fairly closely related situation involving the rates, mechanism, and thermodynamics of the interconversion of sulfenate esters RSOR and the... 

The thermal racemization of optically active aryl allyl sulfoxides ArS(0)CHjCH=CH2 is orders of magnitude faster, and has a much lower activation energy, than that of aryl alkyl sulfoxides ArS(0)R (Bickart et ai, 1968). The reason is that the presence of the allyl group permits the sulfoxide to equilibrate with the isomeric, achiral sulfenate ester by a concerted, cyclic process (89) for whichis only about 20 kcal moM.The rates of racemiz-... 

One of the most interesting reactions in sulfur chemistry is the reversible [2,3]sigmatropic rearrangement of allyl sulfoxides to the corresponding sulfenate esters, which are achiral at sulfur. However, in the case of suitably substituted allyl sulfoxides a new chiral center may be generated at the a-carbon in this process, as shown in eq. [137]. 

The fact that the sulfenate esters formed can be converted under... 

In the case of phenol derivatives, the intermediate formation of sulfenate-esters ArOSCFa, with subsequent rapid conversion to the cyclic substituted product is discussed elsewhere 3). 

A sulfenate ester analogous to but with methyl Instead of chlorine Is formed on MCPBA oxidation of the corresponding methallyl thlocarbamate this patent report ( ) does not mention any Intermediates or speculate on the mechanism of the reaction. Formation of the sulfenate ester Is conveniently monitored not only by IR and NMR but also by CI-MS, In the latter case because In contrast to the sulfoxides (7, 9) the sulfenates are sufficiently stable to exhibit a strong molecular Ion (7 ). 

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