Thiiran 1,1-Dioxides

In the thermolysis of some thiiran 1,1-dioxides it appears that the sulphur dioxide moiety is retained, and C—C bond fission occurs instead. For example, the chloro-sulphone (28) on treatment with potassium t-butoxide in THF gave only the t-butyl ether (29), and no [4,2,2]propella-3,7-diene, which would be the product of Ramburg-Backlund rearrangement. This unusual displacement with retention of configuration was 

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The H NMR spectrum of thiirane 1-oxide is complex (AA BB ) at 60 MHz 24 lines are cfbserved consisting of two sets of 12 centered about a midpoint. The H NMR chemical shift in thiirane 1,1-dioxide is fairly sensitive to solvent variations partly because of the high dipole moment (4.4 D) of the sulfone. The benzene-induced shift, A5 (CeDe-CCLt), is large (-1.04 p.p.m.), as expected from the presence of a sulfone group. Oxygen-17 chemical shifts for thiirane 1-oxide and thiirane 1,1-oxide are -71 and +111 p.p.m. respectively, relative to H2O. 

Thiirane 1,1-dioxides extrude sulfur dioxide readily (70S393) at temperatures usually in the range 50-100 °C, although some, such as c/s-2,3-diphenylthiirane 1,1-dioxide or 2-p-nitrophenylthiirane 1,1-dioxide, lose sulfur dioxide at room temperature. The extrusion is usually stereospeciflc (Scheme 10) and a concerted, non-linear chelotropic expulsion of sulfur dioxide or a singlet diradical mechanism in which loss of sulfur dioxide occurs faster than bond rotation may be involved. The latter mechanism is likely for episulfones with substituents which can stabilize the intermediate diradical. The Ramberg-Backlund reaction (B-77MI50600) in which a-halosulfones are converted to alkenes in the presence of base, involves formation of an episulfone from which sulfur dioxide is removed either thermally or by base (Scheme 11). A similar conversion of a,a -dihalosulfones to alkenes is effected by triphenylphosphine. Thermolysis of a-thiolactone (5) results in loss of carbon monoxide rather than sulfur (Scheme 12). 

Acids are poor catalysts for ring cleavage of thiirane 1,1-dioxides but are good catalysts for reactions of thiirane 1-oxides with nucleophiles. These reactions of episulfoxides are believed to proceed by protonation of the oxygen atom (but see the NMR evidence cited above for 5-protonation in fluorosulfonic acid) and will be treated in the section on nucleophilic reactions. 

The reaction of thiirane 1-oxides with water or methanol is usually acid-catalyzed and gives /3-substituted sulfenic acids which dimerize to thiolsulfinates (54 Scheme 70) (72JA5786). If acetic acid is used a mixture of disulfide (55) and thiolsulfonate (56) is obtained. Treatment of thiirane 1,1-dioxides with hydroxide ion may involve attack on carbon as well as on sulfur as exemplified by 2-phenylthiirane 1,1-dioxide (Scheme 71). 

Thiirane 1-oxide undergoes acid-catalyzed ring opening by ethanethiol to give ethyl 2-ethylthioethyl disulfide. Treatment of thiirane 1,1-dioxide with thiolate anions, sodium sulfide or thiourea gives /3-mercaptosulfinic acid derivatives (75S55). Thiiranium ions are attacked at carbon by most sulfur nucleophiles (79ACR282), but see Section 5.06.3.4.3 for exceptions. 

Thiirane 1,1-dioxides substituted with highly electron withdrawing substituents are predicted to be unstable (73JA7644). 

A few special syntheses of thiirane derivatives from four-membered sulfur heterocycles are known. Methylenethiiranes are derived by thermolysis of the tosylhydrazones of thietan-3-ones (Scheme 143) (81TL4815), and 2,2,3,3-tetrakis(trifluoromethyl)thiirane is obtained by thermolysis of 2,2,4,4-tetrakis(trifluoromethyl)-l,3-dithietane 1,1-dioxide with loss of sulfur dioxide. 2,2,3,3-Tetrakis(trifluoromethyl)thiirane 1,1-dioxide is obtained in low yield by heating a mixture of 3,3-bis(trifluoromethyl)-l,2,4-oxadithietane 2,2,4,4-tetroxide and bis(trifluoromethyl)ketene. The mono-episulfide of norbornadiene is obtained from thietane derivative (65 Scheme 144) (73JOC649). 

Methylene thiirane is obtained by thermolysis of several spirothiirane derivatives which are formally Diels-Alder adducts of methylenethiirane and cyclopentadiene or anthracene <78JA7436). They were prepared via lithio-2-(methylthio)-l,3-oxazolines (c/. Scheme 121). A novel synthesis of the allene episulfide derivatives, 2-isopropylidene-3,3- dimethylthiirane (good yield) or its 5-oxide (poor yield), involves irradiation of 2,2,3,3-tetramethyl-cyclopropanethione or its 5-oxide (81AG293). Substituents on the thiirane ring may be modified to give new thiiranes (Section 5.06.3.9). The synthesis of thiirane 1-oxides and thiirane 1,1-dioxides by oxidation is discussed in Section 5.06.3.3.8 and the synthesis of 5-alkylthiiranium salts by alkylation of thiiranes is discussed in Section 5.06.3.3.4. Thiirene 1-oxides and 1,1-dioxides may be obtained by dehydrohalogenation of 2-halothiirane 1-oxides and 1,1-dioxides (Section 5.06.4.1.2). 

A characteristic property of thiirane 1,1-dioxides is the ease with which such molecules fragment into sulfur dioxide and the related olefin on standing for several hours at room temperature. The title compound is no exception however, the rate of decomposition may be reduced substantially by storage under an inert atmosphere in a freezing compartment (ca. —5°). Under such conditions the product may be kept for many months. 

Chemical shifts of 33S NMR (in ppm relative to CS2) in thiirane, thiirane 1-oxide, and thiirane 1,1-dioxide were observed at — 240, 120 and 245 ppm, respectively (87JOC3857). 

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