Sulfoxides, vinyl asymmetric synthesis

G. H. Posner, Addition of Organometallic Reagents to Chiral Vinyl Sulfoxides in Asymmetric Synthesis. J. D. Morrison, Ed. Vol. 2, p. 225, Academic, New York 1983. 

We have developed the efficient synthesis of the SERM drug candidate 1 and successfully demonstrated the process on a multiple kilogram scale to support the drug development program. A novel sulfoxide-directed borane reduction of vinyl sulfoxides was discovered. The mechanistic details of this novel reaction were explored and a plausible mechanism proposed. The sequence of asymmetric oxidation of vinyl sulfoxides followed by stereospecific borane reduction to make chiral dihydro-1,4-benzoxathiins was applied to the asymmetric synthesis of a number of other dihydro-1,4-benzoxathiins including the sweetening agent 67. 

Various chiral dipolarophiles have been used in the asymmetric synthesis of hexahydro-isoxazolo[2,3- ]pyridines. Examples include // / -2-methylcnc-l, 3-dithiolane 1,3-dioxide 83 <1998JOC3481>, chiral vinyl sulfoxide 85 <1997TA109>, or chiral dioxolanes <2001TA1747> (Scheme 27). 

The sulfinyl group has been widely used in asymmetric synthesis to achieve an efficient control of the 7r-facial selectivity of different types of cycloadditions of vinyl or dienyl sulfoxides. All authors agree that its success is due mainly to the large steric and stereoelectronic differences induced by sulfinyl group on the diastereotopic faces of the neighboring double bonds. It is a consequence of the high conformational polarizability of these substrates around the C-S bond, which means that their conformational equilibrium are easily shifted toward some of the possible rotamers. 

During the past two decades, the asymmetric Diels-Alder reaction has become one of the most powerful tools in asymmetric synthesis as a result of its capacity to create up to four chiral centers in one step, often in a highly stereoselective manner. In the following sections, recent advances in this area using vinyl sulfoxide and vinyl sulfone dienophiles will be considered. It should be noted that, although beyond the scope of this review, many asymmetric Diels-Alder reactions of chiral sulfinyl-1,3-dienes have been reported.111... 

Asymmetric synthesis of a chroman. Solladie and Moine have effected an en-antiospecific synthesis of the chroman-2-carboxaldehyde 7, a key intermediate in the synthesis of a-tocopherol, from (R)-( +)-l. The phosphonate 2, derived from 1, undergoes a Wittig-Horner reaction with the dimethyl ketal of pyruvaldehyde to afford the optically active vinyl sulfoxide 3. Condensation of the aldehyde 4 with the lithio derivative of 3 affords, after silyl deprotection, the allylic alcohol 5 as the only diastereoisomer. This... 

The reaction of a-phosphoryl sulfoxide with the dimethyl acetal of pyruvic aldehyde allowed the preparation of the corresponding vinylic sulfoxide as a 1 1 mixture of (E) and (2) isomers which could be isomerized with Lithium Diisopropylamide to the lithiated (E) isomer, used for the asymmetric synthesis of a-tocopherol (eq 9). ... 

Asymmetric synthesis by a Michael reaction. Japanese chemists report that Michael addition to a, -unsaturated sulfoxides proceeds readily. Thus /vtolyl vinyl sulfoxide (2) reacts with diethyl malonatc and ethyl acctoaoctate in the presence of an equimolar amount of. sodium ethoxide in ethanol to give the Michael adducts (3) and (4). 

They can also be used as vinylic carbanion species as shown by the asymmetric synthesis of the chro-man ring of vitamin The (E)/(Z) mixture of chiral sulfoxide (9) was readily isomerized into the ( )-isomer with LDA in THF (the exclusive formation of the ( )-isomer was due to the chelation of lithium with an oxygen of the acetal). Condensation to trimethylhydroquinonecarbaldehyde gave only one diastereoisomer and then the cyclization in presence of sodium methoxide was also fully stereoselective (the stereochemistry of the cyclization being controlled by that of the allylic hydroxy group which is eliminated during the cyclization Scheme 48). 

The synthesis of unnatural (+)-mesembrine (387) through the asymmetric synthesis of methyl (i )-l-[(3,4-dimethoxy)phenyl]-4-oxocyclohex-2-enyl acetate (390) by cycloaddition of enantiomerically pure vinyl sulfoxide with dichloroketene has been performed 189) (Scheme 43). Vinyl sulfoxide 388 [prepared by conjugate addition of enantiopure acetylenic sulfoxide with (3,4-dimethoxy)phenylcopper] reacted with trichloroacetyl chloride in the presence of freshly prepared zinc-copper couple in THF at 0°C to produce a mixture of mono- and dichloro lactones 389. Reduction of 389 with zinc in acetic acid followed by cyclization and methylation afforded methyl IR-[(3,4-dimethoxy)phenyl]-4-oxocyclohex-2-enyl acetate (390), treatment of which with methylamine brought about amidation and concomitant intramolecular Michael addition to provide 2-oxo-mesembrine (391). Successively, 391 was transformed to (+)-mesembrine (387) in 79% yield (three steps ketalization of an oxo group, reduction of lactam, and deketali-zation)(/S9). 

The application of chiral sulfoxides to the asymmetric synthesis of biologically active compounds has recently been reviewed [3]. Conjugate addition to chiral vinyl sulfoxides has been used by several research groups to achieve the enantioselective synthesis of natural products. For example, intramolecular asymmetric conjugate addition of a nitrogen nucleophile to a chiral vinyl sulfoxide (Scheme 3) was studied by Pyne and applied to the enantioselective synthesis of (-R)-carnegine and other alkaloid systems (Scheme 3) [10]. 

Chiral a,P-unsaturated sulfoxides 1.136 (Y = Tol, R = R CH=CH) also have been used in asymmetric synthesis. These compounds are prepared either by treatment of 1.137 with vinylic organometallic reagents, or from saturated precursors by classical chemical transformations [102, 173, 476, 484-487], Michael additions to these electrophiles are interesting only if R = CF3 [161], Organometallic additions or [4+2] cycloadditions require the introduction of a second electron-withdrawing substituent [73, 102], and acyclic 1.138 and cyclic 1.139 gem-di substituted sulfoxides have seen many interesting applications [101, 102,... 

Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of the key intermediate 11 in the preparation of 3/1.8/ , 10a-trihydroxycapnellene and 3/ ,8/J,10a,14-telrahydroxycapnellene is achieved upon treatment of 5-methyl-5-(3-trifluoromethanesulfonyloxy-3-butenyl)-1.3-cyclopentadiene (10) with catalytic amounts of palladium(II) acetate, (S)-BINAP and tetrabutylammonium acetate in dimethyl sulfoxide. The (.STS..S (-enantiomer of 11 is obtained in 89% yield and 80% ce23,8 . In a similar cyclization reaction of the substrate which contains a vinyl iodide unit in the side chain, a much lower asymmetric induction w7as observed. 

The asymmetric synthesis of naturai products by intramolecular conjugate addition to enantiomerically pure vinylic sulfoxides... 

The intramolecular conjugate addition of nucleophiles to chiral vinyl sulfoxides has proved particularly useful in the asymmetric synthesis of a variety of natural products. 

Marino JP (1993) Asymmetric Synthesis via Optically Active Vinyl Sulfoxides. Pure Appl... 

Cyclic (hetero- and carbocyclic) vinyl sulfoxides have been prepared by a tandem Michael addition/Homer olefination reaction of a-phosphorylvinyl sulfoxides and carbonyl compounds bearing a nucleophilic center. Using optically active a-phosphorylvinyl sulfoxides a series of enantiomeric cyclic vinyl sulfoxides in which the chiral sulfinyl group is bonded to a chromene, pyrrazolyne, quinoline or cyclopen-tene ring, has been obtained. The H-W-E reaction of aldehydes with sulfinimine-derived 3-oxo pyrrolidine phosphonates (228) represents a new method for the asymmetric synthesis of ring-functionalized cw-2,5-disubstituted 3-oxo pyrrolidines (229) (Scheme 90). ... 

Some chiral sulfoxides have biological activity associated with a given configuration at sulfur. Chiral sulfoxides may also be useful in material science (eg ferroelectric liquid crystals). However the main interest of these compounds is related to their usefulness as chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric synthesis The sulfmyl moiety increases the acidity of the a-hydrogens, allowing for facile formation of carbanions which can undergo asymmetric addition on aldehydes or imines. Several classes of vinyl... 

These results indicate that the sulfinyl group seems to be much more efficient in the control of the stereoselectivity of 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions (endo or exo adducts are exclusively obtained in de> 80%) than in Diels-Alder processes (mixtures of all four possible adducts were formed). Additionally, complete control of the regioselectivity of the reaction was observed. Despite these clearly excellent results, the following paper concerning asymmetric cycloaddition of cyclic nitrones and optically pure vinyl sulfoxides was reported nine years later [154]. (Meanwhile, only one paper [155], related to the synthesis of /1-nicotyri-nes, described the use of reaction of nitrones with racemic vinyl sulfoxides, but these substrates were merely used as a masked equivalent of acetylene dipolaro-phile). In 1991, Koizumi et al. described the reaction of one of the best dipolarophiles, the sulfinyl maleimide 109, with 3,4,5,6-tetrahydropyridine 1-oxide 194 [154]. It proceeded in CH2C12 at -78 °C to afford a 60 20 10 6 mixture of four products in ca. 90 % yield (Scheme 92). 

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