Thiirane 1,1-dioxides

Following the pioneering mechanistic studies conducted by Bordwell18 and Neure-iter19, the physical and chemical properties of the thiirane dioxides could be established, as well as several significant aspects of their chemistry. 

Thiirane oxides (3 x = 1) were rather rare and not well characterized until about 20 years ago20. Since 1965 synthetic methods for their preparation have been consistently and systematically explored2. They are rather thermodynamically stable compounds— compared to their closely-related thiirane dioxides—provided they have an anticonfiguration with respect to the substituents and the sulfinyl oxygen. Also they are more resistant than the corresponding sulfones toward ring opening by either nucleophiles or electrophiles. 

A unique characteristic feature of the cyclic three-membered ring sulfones and sulfoxides is the dramatic increase in the length of the carbon-carbon single bonds and the carbon-carbon double bonds in the series of thiirane-thiirane oxide-thiirane dioxide (20a -> 16a -> 17a), and thiirene-thiirene oxide-thiirene dioxide (21 -> 18a -> 19b). 

Interestingly, the oxygen-17 chemical shifts for the thiirane oxide (16a) and thiirane dioxide (17a) were found to be 71 and 111 ppm (downfield from natural-abundance 170 in HzO), respectively. The oxygen-17 shift reveals that this oxygen is the most highly shielded oxygen atom so far reported80,70. 

Thus, most thiirane dioxides slowly decompose near room temperature and rapidly at about 80° or above their melting points to give, stereospecifically, the related alkenes and sulfur dioxide2,18,19,71 (equation 5). 

The formation of alkenes from thiirane dioxides may not be stereospecifically controlled in the presence of a sufficiently strong base and sufficiently acidic protons in the three-membered ring. Under such conditions (essentially those typical for the Ramberg Backlund reaction), epimerization via a carbanion intermediate produces an equilibrium mixture of thiirane dioxides19,99 and consequently a mixture of cis- and trans-alkenes. 

Since a similarity between the rates of decomposition of thiirene dioxide complexes and those of thiirane dioxides was found, it was suggested103 that upon coordination the carbon-carbon bond order of thiirene dioxides decreases and the ligand becomes thiirane dioxide-like. The role of the metal is thus to saturate the carbon-carbon double bond so that the reactivity of the coordinated thiirene dioxide approaches that of the thermally less stable thiirane dioxide. 

The higher strain energy in thiirene dioxides (19) compared to thiirane dioxides (17) is obvious. Yet, the elimination of sulfur dioxide from the latter is significantly faster than one would expect for a thermally allowed concerted process. Consequently, either aromatic-type conjugative stabilization effects are operative in thiirene dioxides2,12 or the relative ease of S02 elimination reflects the relative thermodynamic stability of the (diradical )99 intermediates involved in the nonconcerted stepwise elimination process. 

The nucleophilic attack of strong bases (e.g. hydroxide ion, alkoxide ions and carbanions) on either the a-carbon111 or the sulfur atom of the sulfone group99,113 of the thiirane dioxides is the initial key step that is responsible for the subsequent ring opening and further reaction. The formation of a three-membered a-sulfonyl carbanion is not observed in these cases (equation 11). 

The reaction of thiirane dioxides with reagents that are weak nucleophiles but strong... 

Significantly, (a) a-sulfonyl carbanions of thiirane dioxides, generated from the latter in the presence of strong bases such as potassium t-butoxide19 and alkoxide ions99, do epimerize to relieve steric repulsion between substituents as in 42 above and (b) the a-hydrogen in aryl-substituted three-membered sulfoxides (e.g. 46c) are sufficiently acidic to... 

The elimination of sulfur dioxide from thiirane dioxides leading to the corresponding alkenes is not the only result of base-induced reactions other products are also formed. This fact raises the question of the mechanistic pathway of this reaction. In general, the thiirane dioxide is treated with a large excess of the base in an appropriate solvent for several hours at room temperature or below. Bases commonly used are 2n NaOH (in water), NaOCH3 (in methanol), t-BuO-K + (in f-BuOH) and BuLi (in tetrahydrofuran) or KOH-CCU (in t-BuOH)16-19"112 113. 

A nucleophilic attack of the hydroxide (or the alkoxide) ions on the sulfur atom of the thiirane dioxide ring to give sulfonic acids or similar intermediates, which then decompose to alkenes and bisulfite ion, has been suggested for these reactions16-17>". 

Similarly, the reaction of the parent thiirane dioxide, the 2-chloro- and 2,3-cis-dimethylthiirane dioxides with either Grignard or alkyl lithium reagents, has been studied extensively. The fair-to-good yields of the sulfinates (62) obtained (48-82%), accompanied by ethylene (or the corresponding alkenes for substituted thiirane dioxide), have been interpreted in terms of initial nucleophilic attack of the base on the sulfur atom as depicted in equation 17116. 

Due to the instability of thiirane dioxides, only a few methods are available for their practical preparation. Of the routes summarized in the scheme below2 (equation 36), only a and b have practical value and generalizability. Route b appears to be the method of choice. 

Route b involves the formation of one carbon-carbon bond and one carbon-sulfur bond. It belongs to the category of sulfene chemistry143. Sulfene intermediates react readily with diazoalkanes to produce, after the loss of nitrogen, thiirane dioxides. So far, this appears to be the method of choice for the preparation of thiirane dioxides of all types. 

Actually, thiirane dioxides (17) have so far never been isolated in these reactions cis- and trans-olefins were the main products, and all attempts to obtain the three-membered ring system and prevent the loss of SO 2 failed. Hence, the method can be used only for the in situ formation of intermediates. 

In a typical procedure61144 the sulfonyl chloride in ether is added to an etheral solution of the diazoalkane and triethylamine. Filtration and evaporation gives the relatively pure thiirane dioxide. Further purification can be easily achieved by recrystallizations preferentially below room temperature in order to avoid fragmentation of the product into sulfur dioxide and the olefin. In general, when the temperature of the above reaction is lowered, the yields are improved without a drastic decrease in reactivity144. Many thiirane dioxides have been successfully synthesized through this method and a detailed list of them can be found elsewhere2. 

The use of excess diazoalkane in its reaction with sulfur dioxide will necessarily lead to symmetrically substituted thiirane dioxides. When monoalkyl or monoaryl diazoalkanes are used, mixtures of cis- and trans-isomers are formed18-19-99. 

Another procedure145 consists of bubbling of sulfur dioxide through a chilled solution of diazomethane in ether146. Evaporation of the solvent leaves the crude thiirane dioxide, which can be further purified by either distillation under reduced pressure or recrystallization. The formation of the thiirane dioxides is usually accompanied by formation of the corresponding olefins, along with small amount of ketazines. 

Similarly, the stereospecific formation of cis-2-butene from cis-2,3-dimethylthiirane dioxide19 may be rationalized in terms of a stereospecific ring opening to give the threo-sulfinate 120 which, in turn, decomposes stereospecifically to yield the cis-alkene, hydroxide ion and sulfur dioxide73. The parent thiirane dioxide fragments analogously to ethylene, hydroxide ion and sulfur dioxide (equation 49). 

It was further confirmed that although the fragmentation pattern is dependent on the substitution pattern, most thiirane dioxides formed in situ decompose rapidly and stereospecifically under alkaline conditions to yield the corresponding alkenes with retention of configuration156. 

There is no clear reason to prefer either of these mechanisms, since stereochemical and kinetic data are lacking. Solvent effects also give no suggestion about the problem. It is possible that the carbon-carbon bond is weakened by an increasing number of phenyl substituents, resulting in more carbon-carbon bond cleavage products, as is indeed found experimentally. All these reductive reactions of thiirane dioxides with metal hydrides are accompanied by the formation of the corresponding alkenes via the usual elimination of sulfur dioxide. 

The zinc chloride is acting here as a Lewis acid. Similarly, thiirane dioxides react with metal halides such as lithium and magnesium chlorides, bromides and iodides in ether or THF to give the halo-metal sulfmates (130) in fair yields157. 

Thiirene dioxides readily react with an entire spectrum of enamines to provide novel acyclic and cyclic systems172. These products result mostly from carbon-carbon or carbon-sulfur bond cleavage in the intermediate fused thiirane dioxide 167 (equation 67). 

Ready extrusion of sulfur dioxide from fused thiirane dioxides is well known and was observed in the formation of pyrazoles from 19b and diazoalkanes6,179. A ring expansion... 

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