Sulfoxide-sulfenate

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 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. 

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). 

One of the first uses of the allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate interconversion was made by Jones and coworkers64, who reported exclusive suprafacial rearrangement of the allyl group in the steroidal sulfoxide 17 shown in equation 13. Two other examples are shown in equations 1465 and 1566. Evans and coworkers have demonstrated the utility of the suprafacial allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement in a new synthesis of the tetracyclic alcohol 24 (equation 16)67, as well as in a synthesis of prostaglandin intermediates as shown in equation 1768. The stereospecific rearrangement of the unstable sulfenate intermediate obtained from the cis diol 25 indicates the suprafacial nature of this process. 

The data presented demonstrate that allylic sulfoxides can provide an easy and highly stereoselective route to allylic alcohols taking advantage of the facility of the allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement. This is of considerable synthetic utility, since a number of stereoselective and useful transformations of allylic alcohols and their derivatives have become available in recent years107-109. 

Further examples of the utility of the allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate interconversion in the construction of various biologically active natural products include intermediates such as the /Miydroxy-a-methylene-y-butyrolactones (e.g. 63)128 and tetrahydrochromanone derivative 64129. Interestingly, the facility and efficiency of this rearrangement has also attracted attention beyond the conventional boundaries of organic chemistry. Thus, a study on mechanism-based enzyme inactivation using an allyl sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement has also been published130 131. 

Another version of the double [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement, involving the sequence sulfenate - sulfoxide - sulfenate, has also been observed. For example, an effective one-pot epimerization procedure of 17a-vinyl-l 7/i-hydroxysteroids to the rather inaccessible 17-epimers has been achieved by the use of such a rearrangement (equation 35)137. Thus treatment of alcohol 76a with benzenesulfenyl chloride afforded the sulfoxide 77 as a single isomer and E-geometry of the olefinic double bond. Exposure of 77 to trimethyl phosphite in refluxing methanol produced a mixture of 76b and 76a in a 73 27 ratio. 

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). 

The synthesis takes advantage of the well-documented sulfoxide - sulfenate rearrangement , as well as of its retro-process, leading to cyclization and formation of the desired four-membered ring sulfoxide system (i.e. 211, 212). A closely related ring enlargement is based on the reversibility of this rearrangement and has found wide use in penicillin chemistry . 

Although the interception of allylic sulfenates in the manner described by equation 11 was first observed by Abbott and Stirling ", the general value of this transformation and its remarkable synthetic potential has been recognized by Evans and coworkers , who have also introduced the previously used trimethyl phosphite as a preferable trapping agent. An early review of the synthetic utility of the reversible allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement has also been published by Evans and Andrews . 

Subsequently, Kametani and coworkers observed a similar allylic sulfoxide-sulfenate-sulfoxide rearrangement. These authors reported the exceptionally facile ringopening reaction of condensed cyclobutenes facilitated by arylsulfinyl carbanion substituents. For example, treatment of sulfoxide 68 with butyllithium in tetrahydrofuran at — 30°C for 10 min, followed by normal workup, results in the formation of product 71, which can be explained by the intervention of a double [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of the initial product 69 via 70 (equation 32). A similar double [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of 1,4-pentadienylic sulfoxides has also been reported by Sammes and coworkers. ... 

On treatment with camphorsulfonic acid/pyridine, methyl ( )-1-[(.S )-4-mcthylphcnylsuirinyl]-2-alkenoates undergo, enantioselectively, a sequential prototropic shift and allylic sulfoxide/ sulfenate rearrangement to produce methyl (R,/f)-4-hydroxy-2-alkcnoates in 64- 72% optical purity63a. 

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