Sulfonium ylides compounds

Upon addition of a base—triethylamine is often used—the sulfonium salt 7 is deprotonated to give a sulfonium ylide 8. The latter decomposes into the carbonyl compound 2 and dimethyl sulfide 9 through /3-elimination via a cyclic transition state. 

It is well known that aziridination with allylic ylides is difficult, due to the low reactivity of imines - relative to carbonyl compounds - towards ylide attack, although imines do react with highly reactive sulfur ylides such as Me2S+-CH2-. Dai and coworkers found aziridination with allylic ylides to be possible when the activated imines 22 were treated with allylic sulfonium salts 23 under phase-transfer conditions (Scheme 2.8) [15]. Although the stereoselectivities of the reaction were low, this was the first example of efficient preparation of vinylaziridines by an ylide route. Similar results were obtained with use of arsonium or telluronium salts [16]. The stereoselectivity of aziridination was improved by use of imines activated by a phosphinoyl group [17]. The same group also reported a catalytic sulfonium ylide-mediated aziridination to produce (2-phenylvinyl)aziridines, by treatment of arylsulfonylimines with cinnamyl bromide in the presence of solid K2C03 and catalytic dimethyl sulfide in MeCN [18]. Recently, the synthesis of 3-alkyl-2-vinyl-aziridines by extension of Dai s work was reported [19]. 

Sulfonium ylides can also be generated by in situ alkylation with diazo compounds. The alkylation can be carried out by reaction of a diazo compound with HBF4 and DBU.281 The reagents are added alternately in small portions and the reaction presumably proceeds by trapping of the carbocation generated by dediazonization and deprotonation. 

It was shown that complexes 19 of the zwitterionic precursors of ortho-quinone methides and a bis(sulfonium ylide) derived from 2,5-di hydroxyl 1,4 benzoquinone46 were even more stable than those with amine N-oxides. The bis(sulfonium ylide) complexes were formed in a strict 2 1 ratio (o-QM/ylide) and were unaltered at —78 °C for 10 h and stable at room temperature under inert conditions for as long as 15—30 min (Fig. 6.18).47 The o-QM precursor was produced from a-tocopherol (1), its truncated model compound (la), or a respective ortho-methylphenol in general by Ag20 oxidation in a solution containing 0.50-0.55 equivalents of bis(sulfonium ylide) at —78 °C. Although the species interacting with the ylide was actually the zwitterionic oxidation intermediate 3a and not the o-QM itself, the term stabilized o-QM was introduced for the complexes, since these reacted similar to the o-QMs themselves but in a well defined way without dimerization reactions. 

In addition the structure of the 1,2-azathiabenzene 78 was also confirmed by chemical evidence as shown in Scheme 10. Protonation of 78a (R1 = R2 = Me) with 70% perchloric acid yielded the corresponding cyclic amino sulfonium salt 82a in 87% yield, but not the starting sulfonium compound 76a, suggesting predominance of sulfilimine structure 78a rather than cyclic sulfonium ylide stmcture 80a. Thus, compound 78 could be recognized as the first example of a 1,2-azathiabenzene having sulfur at a bridgehead position. A proposed mechanism for the formation of 78 and 79 is shown in Scheme 9. The most acidic proton adjacent to sulfur in 76 is deprotonated with... 

Interaction of an electrophilic carbene or carbenoid with R—S—R compounds often results in the formation of sulfonium ylides. If the carbene substituents are suited to effectively stabilize a negative charge, these ylides are likely to be isolable otherwiese, their intermediary occurence may become evident from products of further transformation. Ando 152 b) has given an informative review on sulfonium ylide chemistry, including their formation by photochemical or copper-catalyzed decomposition of diazocarbonyl compounds. More recent examples, including the generation and reactions of ylides obtained by metal-catalyzed decomposition of diazo compounds in the presence of thiophenes (Sect. 4.2), allyl sulfides and allyl dithioketals (Sect. 2.3.4) have already been presented. 

The reaction of carbenes or carbenoids with compounds containing S—S bonds is likely to begin with sulfonium ylide formation subsequent [1,2] rearrangement then produces a formal insertion product of the carbene moiety into the S—S bond152 b). 

Functions [R2Au] are also present in the large family of gold(i) complexes of phosphonium, arsonium, and sulfonium ylides . Section 2.05.6 is dedicated to this class of complexes, where dinuclear compounds with gold in the oxidation state +2 are also common. 

Chiral sulfonium ylides have been known for some 30 years, and their stereochemistry and properties have been studied.15 Optically active selenonium ylides were obtained by reacting selenoxides with 1,3-cyclohexanedione under asymmetric conditions by Sakaki and Oae in 1976 for the first time,16 and also optically resolved by fractional recrystallization of the diastereomeric mixtures in the early 1990s.17 In 1995, optically active selenonium ylides 6 were obtained in over 99% de by nucleophilic substitution of optically active chloroselenurane or selenoxide with active methylene compounds with retention of configuration.18 The absolute configurations were determined by X-ray analysis of one... 

Sulfonium, cyclopropyldiphenyl tetrafluoroborate, 54, 28 Sulfonium salts, acetylenic, furans from, 53, 3 Sulfonium ylides, 54, 32 Sulfur, reaction with organo-lithium compounds, 50, 105 Sulfuryl chloride, with 1,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylic acid to give 3-chloro-l,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylic acid, 51, 73... 

Among the compounds to be discussed in this subsection we also encounter thiabenzene systems that, according to Mislow (168), are best described as cyclic sulfonium ylides. l-Pentafluorophenyl-2-methyl-2-thianaphthalene 130 the first example of an optically active thiabenzene, was prepared by Mislow and co-workers (169) by deprotonation of thiochromenium tetrafluoroborate 131 with brucine in anhydrous dimethylsulfoxide. 

Finally, it should be noted that in contrast to optically labile sulfonium ylides, the oxosulfonium yUdes derived from chiral sulfoximides and related compounds are configurationally stable. Johnson and co-workers (184) have obtained a large number of chiral oxosulfonium ylides having the general structures 161 and 162 and have used them as nucleophilic alkylidene transfer agents for asymmetric synthesis. These results are discussed in the last part of this chapter. 

Interestingly, sulfonium ylides generated from electrophilic carbene complexes and sulfides can react with carbonyl compounds, imines, or acceptor-substituted alkenes to yield oxiranes [1320-1325], aziridines [1321,1326,1327] or cyclopropanes [1328,1329], respectively. In all these transformations the thioether used to form the sulfonium ylide is regenerated and so, catalytic amounts of thioether can be sufficient for complete conversion of a given carbene precursor into the... 

The reaction of a cyclic sulfonium ylide such as dimethylsulfonium-2-oxocyclohexylide (411) with DMAD gives rise to a ring-expanded product, namely, dimethylsulfonium-2,3-dicarbomethoxy-4-oxo-2-cyclooctenylide (414), probably through the intermediates 412 and 413 (Scheme 65). By carrying out the reaction in benzene, it was possible to isolate a compound assumed to be 413, which was subsequently transformed in polar solvents to 414. The reaction of an andogous ylide... 

Sulfonium ylides generated through base-promoted deprotonation of sulfonium salt have been extensively studied. The reaction of sulfides with a diazo carbonyl compound in the presence of a transition metal catalyst is an alternative approach to obtain sulfonium ylides. Sulfonium ylides are more stable than the corresponding oxonium ylides. Stable sulfonium ylides generated by the reaction of an Rh(ii) carbene complex with thiophene have been reported (Figure 5). ... 

Recent study on sulfonium ylide [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement has been focused on the development of new catalytic systems, including new catalysts and alternative carbene precursor other than commonly used a-diazocarbonyl compounds. Besides the most commonly used Cu(i) and Rh(ii) catalysts, Fe com-... 

Ring synthesis from non-heterocycles by closure y to the heteroatom are reported. Sulfonium ylides (135) with active methylene compounds such as malononitrile give a C-phenacyl product (136) however, when reacted with /3-diketones and /3-ketonic esters they produce furans quantitatively (74CL101). In these cases O-phenacylation takes place followed by cyclization to give the 3-hydroxydihydrofuran (137), which is dehydrated to the furan (138) (Scheme 30). These furans differ from those formed by the reaction of the diketone or ketonic esters with phenacyl halides. The latter reaction takes place by C-phenacylation, yielding the isomeric furans (139). 

Stability of both the parent system and the S- oxide is conferred by the presence of electron-withdrawing substituents on the carbon framework, especially at positions 2, 4 and 6, while electron-donating substituents on sulfur also help. Compounds (48), (49) and (50) illustrate these conclusions, as they are air-stable, isolable species (74CL1101). Exactly analogous factors acting on stability are seen with acyclic sulfonium and sulfoxonium ylide compounds. 

Azide, sulfonium ylides and (V-aminopyridinium ylides are also known to add to the 2-position of substituted thiopyrylium compounds (presumably via reversible addi-tion/elimination sequences, as for methoxide) and cause ring opening followed by ring closure with loss of sulfur. Scheme 24 shows these conversions (80NKK604). 

Durst [478, 479] has shown that the sulfonium ylide (3) transfers its benzylidene group to some carbonyl compounds with e.e. values approaching enantiomeric purity, although the reaction was not yet amenable to synthetic utility (low overall yields, side reaction). However, an interpretation of the difference of behaviour of (3) and (4) towards PhCHO (e.e. values, respectively, 96% and less than 3%) led the authors to propose a [2 + 2] cycloaddition mechanism rather than the commonly accepted nucleophilic antiperiplanar addition for the reaction of a sulfur ylide with a carbonyl compound [479]. Clearly, more work is needed in this area. 

The behavior of nonstabilized arsonium ylides such as methylene or ethylidene triphenylarsorance toward carbonyl compounds are similar to sulfonium ylides (10, II, 13, 97). 

Toward carbonyl compounds, the behavior of nonstabilized arsonium ylides such as methylene or ethylidene triphenylarsorane is similar to that of sulfonium ylides (10, II, 13, 97). When an arsonium ylide was reacted with aminoketones in a cold 1 1 DMSO-THF solution a smooth reaction took place and the corresponding 3-substituted indoles were obtained in fair to good yields (II). 

Phosphonium ylides react with carbonyl compounds to give olefins whereas sulfonium ylides aflFord epoxides. In their behavior toward car-... 

Another widely used route to cyclopropanes involves the addition of sulfonium ylides to a,/ -unsaturated carbonyl compounds (S.R. Landor, 1967 R. Sowada, 1971 C.R. Johnson, 1973B, 1979 B.M. Trost, 1975 A). Non-activated double bonds are not attacked. Sterical hindrance is of little importance in these reactions because the C—S bond is extraordinarily long... 

Compounds 128 were prepared in high yields either by thermal [1 Ire-arrangement of sulfonium ylides 126 to intermediates 127 which were then converted into the thiazepine derivatives (128) by ring expansion on photolysis in methanol, or directly from the ylides 126 by ultraviolet irradiation, which causes a photo[l,2]rearrangement followed by ring expansion (Scheme 39) (77CPB292). 

The oxidative effect of the DMSO/PhNCO system on cellulose was confirmed by means of alcoholic model compounds (60, 62, 64) that were neatly oxidized into the corresponding ketones. The presence of the active species, the oxidatively acting sulfonium ylide 66, in the cellulose carbanilation mixture was proven by trapping with two reagents, a tocopherol-based compound (48) and a naphthoquinone (68) that was also used in a facile color test to estimate the degrading effect of certain carbanilation mixtures and conditions on cellulose. 

In an effort to explain these atypical reactivity patterns, a mechanistic postulate based on direct electrostatic activation (DEA) was proposed (Scheme 3.8). Indeed, the zwitterionic iminium ions derived from catalyst 10 and a,/i-un saturated aldehydes enable both iminium geometry control and direct electrostatic activation of the approaching sulfonium ylides. The combination of geometric and electronic control seems to be essential for enantio- and diastereocontrol in the formation of the desired cyclopropyl compound. 

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