Sulfenates, oxidation

The reaction of thiirane 1-oxides with water or methanol is usually acid-catalyzed and gives /3-substituted sulfenic acids which dimerize to thiolsulfinates (54 Scheme 70) (72JA5786). If acetic acid is used a mixture of disulfide (55) and thiolsulfonate (56) is obtained. Treatment of thiirane 1,1-dioxides with hydroxide ion may involve attack on carbon as well as on sulfur as exemplified by 2-phenylthiirane 1,1-dioxide (Scheme 71). 

The intermediate sulfides can be oxidized to the corresponding sulfoxides and sul-fones and then, liberated to give sulfenic and sulfinic acids. 

Sulfenyl chlondes react with allyl alcohols to yield allyl sulfenates, whtch are in equihbnum with the allyl sulfoxides [12] (equation 9a) These products can be oxidized to the corresponding sulfones (equation 9b) Pyrolysis of the sulfoxides gives sulfines or evidence for the presence of sulfmes Pyrolysis of sulfones leads to unsamrated compounds by extrusion of sulfur dioxide [12] (equation 9c)... 

Section 15.13 Thiols are compounds of the type RSH. They are more acidic than alcohols and are readily deprotonated by reaction with aqueous base. Thiols can be oxidized to sulfenic acids (RSOH), sulfinic acids (RSO2H), and sulfonic acids (RSO3H). The redox relationship between thiols and disulfides is important in certain biochemical processes. 

Phenanthro[4,5-b, c, d]thiophene 4-oxide (19) and 4,4-dioxide (20)15 undergo first the well-known sulfenate (22) or sulfinate ester (23) rearrangements1 4,6, respectively (equation 6). The sulfoxide loses an oxygen atom and enters the fragmentation pathway of 18 or loses HCO (more likely in two steps) from 22. Both sulfenate and sulfinate ions can fragment further via 21 after losing a sulfur atom or eliminating SO5, respectively. 

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. 

There are several reactions in which the sulfoxy oxygen exhibits its nucleophilicity, the most noticeable being the thermal rearrangement of thiirane oxides (in the presence of a suitable disposed /J-hydrogen) to allylic sulfenic acids2,63,105 (see equation 9 in Section III.C.l). 

To date, several well-established methods are available for the convenient preparation of thiirane oxides, the two main ones being the controlled oxidation of thiiranes63a and the reaction of sulfenes with diazoalkanes636. 

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 esters128 appears to be mechanistically analogous. 

Also, the isolation of benzil 160 as the only product in the thermolysis of thiirene oxide 18a at 130 °C was rationalized22 in terms of initial ring expansion (sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement) followed by rearrangement to monothiobenzil 159. The latter might be expected to undergo hydrolysis or air oxidation to give benzil 160 (equation 65). 

The addition of sulfenic acids to olefins207 has been successfully applied in the synthesis of thietanoprostanoids, the thietane analogues of prostaglandin245. The general synthetic scheme is presented in equation 83207. The key step is the thermolysis of either erythro- or (7ireo-2-f-butylsulphinyl-3-vinyl-l-ol (209) to give the corresponding alkenesulfenic acids 210, which cyclize spontaneously to a mixture of stereoisomeric thietane oxides. 

The main result of the thermolysis of the three-membered ring sulfoxides and sulfones is the extrusion of the sulfur monoxide and the sulfur dioxide moieties (Section III.C. I)99 10 5. Only in the presence of a suitably disposed /J-hydrogen does the ordinary sulfoxide-sulfenic acid fragmentation take place in the thiirane oxide series (equation 9). 

It is noteworthy that, based on the sulfoxide- sulfenic acid rearrangement, the readily accessible 1,3-dithiolane systems (316) may be utilized (equation 116) as an efficient entry into the 1,4-dithiane series303, including the construction of carbocyclic fused systems304. The oxidation of the dithienes 318 to the corresponding sulfoxides (319 and 320) and sulfones is a simple, straightforward process. 

The trapping of both sulfines and sulfenes with dienes is probably the method of choice for the preparation of 3-thiene oxides and dioxides, respectively143,337. 

The photochemical behavior of a number of substituted derivatives of thiochroman-4-one 1-oxides has been examined by Still and coworkers192-194. These authors also report that rearrangement to cyclic sulfenates, with subsequent reaction by homolysis of the S—O bond, appears to be a particularly favorable process. For example, ultraviolet irradiation of a solution of 8-methylthiochroman-4-one 1-oxide (133) in benzene for 24h afforded a single crystalline product which was assigned the disulfide structure 134 (equation 54). More recently, Kobayashi and Mutai195 have also suggested a sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement for the photochemical conversion of 2,5-diphenyl-l,4-dithiin 1-oxide (135) to the 1,3-dithiole derivatives 136 and 137 (equation 55). 

Jones and Lewton250 have also demonstrated the utility of the intramolecular addition of sulfenic acids to olefins as a stereospecific method for the synthesis of thiolan 1-oxides. 

---