Sulfoxide complexes oxygenation reactions

In addition to the catalysis of sulfoxide deoxygenation (Section IV,C) and sulfoxide oxygenation (Section IV,D), other interesting reactions have been shown to be catalyzed by sulfoxide complexes, and these are detailed below. 

The main methodologies developed until now for enantioselective oxidation of sulfides are effective only in the oxidation of alkyl aryl sulfoxides. Dialkyl sulfoxides on the other hand are generally oxidized with only poor selectivity. In an attempt to solve this problem, Schenk s group69 recently reported a stereoselective oxidation of metal-coordinated thioethers with DMD. The prochiral thioether is first coordinated to a chiral ruthenium complex by reaction with the chloride complexes [CpRu[(S,S)-chiraphos]Cl], 36. Diastereoselective oxygen transfer from DMD produces the corresponding sulfoxides in high yield and selectivity. The chiral sulfoxides 37 are liberated from the complexes by treatment with sodium iodide. Several o.p. aryl methyl sulfoxides have been obtained by this method in moderate to high ee (Scheme 12). 

Further research into the reaction mechanism revealed that the reaction rate was correlated with the electron structure of the sulfoxide the more electropositive sulfoxides were the better oxygen donors. Excellent correlation of the reaction rates with the heterolytic benzylic carbon-hydrogen bond dissociation energies indicated a hydride abstraction mechanism in the rate-determining step to yield a carbocation intermediate. The formation of 9-phenylfluorene as by-product in the oxidation of triphenylmethane supports this suggestion. Further kinetic experiments and NMR showed the formation of a polyoxometalate-sulfoxide complex before the oxidation reaction, this complex being the active oxidant in these systems. Subsequently, in a similar reaction system, sulfoxides were used to facilitate the aerobic oxidation of alcohols [29]. In this manner, benzylic, allyUc, and aliphatic alcohols were all oxidized to aldehydes and ketones in a reaction catalyzed by Ke jn-type... 

The oxidation of benzylic alcohols was quantitative within hours and selective to the corresponding benzaldehydes, but the oxidation of allylic alcohols was less selective. The oxidation of aliphatic alcohols was slower but selective. In mechanistic studies considering oxidation of benzylic alcohols, similar to the oxidation of alkylarenes, a polyoxometalate-sulfoxide complex appears to be the active oxidant. Further isotope-labeling experiments, kinetic isotope effects, and especially Hammett plots showed that oxidation occurs by oxygen transfer from the activated sulfoxide and elimination of water from the alcohol. However, the exact nature of the reaction pathway is dependent on the identity of substituents on the phenyl ring. 

Oxidation reactions are not limited to those that occur at a carbon centre. The perfluorinated Ni(F-acac)2-benzene-CgFi7Br system described above was also active for the oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides and sulfones [28], A sacrificial aldehyde is required as co-reductant, but the reaction may be tuned by changing the quantity of this aldehyde. If 1.6 equivalents of aldehyde are used, the sulfoxide is obtained, whereas higher quantities (5 equivalents) lead to sulfones. Fluorous-soluble transition metal porphyrin complexes also catalyse the oxidation of sulfides in the presence of oxygen and 2,2-dimethylpropanal [29],... 

Another example of a diene undergoing a [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction with an alkene has been reported recently4. 2-Dimethylaluminumoxy-l,3-cyclohexadiene (7) reacted with phenyl vinyl sulfoxide (8) to afford a diastereomeric mixture of cis substituted cyclobutanols 9 (equation 3). The occurrence of a [2 + 2] cycloaddition as well as the high cis stereoselectivity observed were explained by a pre-organization of the reactants by complexation of the diene bound aluminum with the sulfoxide oxygen on the olefin. 

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