Sulfinyl ligands

Scheme 5. Some sulfinyl ligands used in (Bu et al., 2002a, 2002b Li, J.R. et al., 2004a, 2004b).

Sulfinyl oxiranes 2 can be desulfurized with butyllithium at very low temperature to give oxiranes with retention of configuration as a result of a ligand exchange at sulfur (see also Table 6). However, with a benzylic substituent R1, an excess of butyllithium may at higher temperatures induce an elimination to an allylic alcohol. 

Among /1-thiosubstituted organophosphorus compounds bearing chiral groups, phosphono methyl thiazolines (Sect. 2.2.1, Scheme 8) and o-sulfanyl aryl phos-phonamides or phosphinoxides (Sect. 3.3, schemes 20 and 21) have already been mentioned. As a complement to this, some recent synthesis of non racemic /1-sulfinyl phosphines and phosphonates and thiazolidinyl phosphonates are reported below. Moreover, some chiral )8-thio-substituted phosphines have been used as metal ligands in asymmetric catalysis and are listed in Sect. 5.3. 

Scheme 1.50 Test reaction with P/N-sulfinyl-imine ligand.

Scheme 5.2 Cu-catalysed Diels-Alder reaction with siam ligand and sulfinyl imine...

The catalytic activation of thionyl chloride by Bi(0Tf)3-xH20 has been reported and applied to the preparation of the thermally unstable aryl sulfinyl chlorides [34]. It has been shown that this procedure is restricted to electron-rich aromatics (such as aromatic ethers and mesitylene). The mechanistic investigation seems to indicate that no ligand exchange occurs during the reaction. 

The initial work on the asymmetric [4-1-2] cycloaddition reactions of A -sulfinyl compounds and dienes was performed with chiral titanium catalysts, but low ee s were observed <2002TA2407, 2001TA2937, 2000TL3743>. A great improvement in the enantioselectivity for the reaction of AT-sulfinyl dienophiles 249 or 250 and acyclic diene 251 or 1,3-cyclohexadiene 252 was observed in the processes involving catalysis with Cu(ll) and Zn(ii) complexes of Evans bis(oxazolidinone) (BOX) ligands 253 and 254 <2004JOC7198> (Scheme 34). While the preparation of enantio-merically enriched hetero-Diels-Alder adduct 255 requires a stoichometric amount of chiral Lewis acid complex, a catalytic asymmetric synthesis of 44 is achieved upon the addition of TMSOTf. 

Formation of a-Sulfinyl carbanions has been widely investigated17. Several bases were found to be suitable for the generation of these species, e.g., methyllithium and lithium diisopropyl-amide. Butyllithium and rm-butyllithium, however, must be used with caution since they can cause cleavage of the carbon sulfur bond, resulting in an exchange of the ligand at sulfur by a nucleophilic displacement28-29. This method has been used for the preparation of optically active alkyl methyl sulfoxides 28. 

This chapter reports principally on studies with ruthenium chiral phosphine and chiral sulfoxide complexes and their use for catalytic hydrogenation. We have used the familiar diop ligand, [2R,3R-(—)-2,3-Oisopropylidene-2,3-dihydroxy-l,4-bis(diphenylphosphino) butane] (7) a related chiral chelating sulfoxide ligand dios, the bis(methyl sulfinyl)butane analog (21) (S,R S,S)-(+)-2-meth-ylbutyl methyl sulfoxide(MBMSO), chiral in the alkyl group and R-(+)-methyl para-tolyl sulfoxide(MPTSO), chiral at sulfur. Preliminary data on some corresponding Rh(I) complexes are presented also. 

Chiral sulfoximines liganded to copper(II) give highly enantioselective vinylogous Mukaiyama-type aldol reactions under mild conditions.137 A chiral sulfinyl group has been used to achieve 1,5- and 1,6-asymmetric induction in Mukaiyama aldols, using Yb(OTf)3 catalysis.138... 

Asymmetric [4 + 2] cycloaddition reactions of A-sulfinyl compounds and dienes have been developed <2002TA2407, 2000TL3743>. Excellent enantioselectivity is observed for the preparation of product 148 by the reaction of A-sulfinyl dienophiles 146 and acyclic diene 147 catalyzed with Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes of Evans bis(oxazolidinone) ligands (Scheme 74) <2004JOC7198>. 

Although sulfur forms a variety of structures differing in the number of ligands and valency, the overwhelming majority of stereoselective C-S bond forming reactions are limited to those which afford chiral carbon compounds with the sulfenyl, sulfinyl and sulfonyl moieties bonded to the stereogenic carbon atom. In accord with this, discussion of stereoselective C—S bond formation will be divided into three corresponding subsections. Procedures with stereoselective C—S bond formation where the sulfur is in a less common form are also presented. 

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