Sulfoxides, propargyl 2,3 -rearrangements

A number of different methods have been used to synthesize racemic sulfinyl dienes. They involve oxidation of dienylthioethers [119], reactions of a-sulfinyl carbanions with different electrophiles [60, 120], sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangements of propargylic sulfenates followed by isomerization of the resulting sulfinylallenes [121], and reactions of sulfolenes with Grignard reagents [122]. 

In 1988 Gibbs and Okamura [128] described the intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction of the non-racemic vinylallene 150 to afford the adduct 151 (as a mixture of epimers at sulfur) in a completely exo-selective manner, due to the topographical and steric arrangement of the starting vinylallene (Scheme 74). Compound 150 was obtained as a mixture of epimers at sulfur from the optically pure propargylic alcohol 149 (this transformation involved a sulfoxide-sulfenate rearrangement). Compound 151 was used to synthesize (-l-)-sterpurene. 

Following studies on the rearrangement of allylic arenesulfinates, Braverman and coworkers have investigated a number of natural extensions of this unique transformation, including the predictable [2,3] sigma tropic rearrangements of allylic sulfenates to sulfoxides and of propargylic sulfenates and sulfinates to allenic sulfoxides and sulfones respectively. The last reaction is described below, while the other two are described in Chapter 14. 

C. [2,3]-Sigmatropic Rearrangements of Propargylic Sulfenates to Allenic Sulfoxides... 

In one of its earliest applications, Horner and Binder143 prepared a variety of allenyl aryl sulfoxides by the rearrangement of propargylic arenesulfenates, and noticed that accumulation of electron-withdrawing groups in the aromatic ring retard the rate of rearrangement. These authors have also performed a detailed study of the chemistry of... 

Analogous with the rearrangement of allylic sulfoxides is the [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of propargylic sulfoxides to allenic sulfenates. This process, which has been relatively little studied so far, appears to be the first step in the facile and quantitative rearrangement of sulfoxide 98 to the hemithioacetal 101 (equation 45)167. This reaction,... 

The synthetic utility of the remarkably facile and efficient [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of propargylic sulfenates has been further demonstrated in a variety of preparations and interesting reactions of allenyl sulfoxides , including the preparation of vinylallenes " which are useful intermediates in organic synthesis in general and natural polyenes, such as Vitamins A and D, in particular Two typical examples, taken... 

Rearrangement of dienynols to vinylallene sulfoxides. A few years ago, Oka-mura et al. (11, 39) reported the rearrangement of a dienynol to an allenyldiene with transfer of chirality of the propargylic alcohol. This rearrangement has now been used for an enantioselective synthesis of a sesquiterpene, (+ )-sterpurene (3).Thus reaction of the optically active propargylic alcohol 1 with C6H,SC1 at 25° results in a vinylallene (a) that cyclizes to the optically active sulfoxide 2. Nickel-... 

The acidity of the propargylic proton of the starting compound 18 allows the equilibration with the allene 19 induced by bases such as tertiary amines or alcoholates (Scheme 7.4). Such prototropic rearrangements furnish the title compounds 19 with at least one proton at the terminal carbon atom, often in good yields. The EWG group involves carboxylic acids [33], esters [34], ketones [35, 36], isonitriles [37], sul-fones [38], sulfoxides [39, 40] and phosphonates [41], The oxidation of easily accessi-... 

In addition to the sulfur-substituted enyne-allenes depicted in Schemes 20.18-20.20, the sulfoxide 141 was prepared by treatment of the enediynyl propargylic alcohol 108 with benzenesulfenyl chloride to induce a [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement (Scheme 20.29) [10]. The Myers-Saito cyclization of 141 occurs at 37 °C with a half-life of only 16 min. 

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