Thiirene dioxides reactions

The issue of the acidity of a-hydrogens in thiirene oxides and dioxides is dealt with only in the dioxide series, since neither the parent, nor any mono-substituted thiirene oxide, is known to date. Thus the study of the reaction of 2-methylthiirene dioxide (19c) with aqueous sodium hydroxide revealed that the hydroxide ion is presumably diverted from attack at the sulfony 1 group (which is the usual pattern for hydroxide ion attack on thiirene dioxides) by the pronounced acidity of the vinyl proton of this compound113 (see equation 14). 

In contrast to thiirane oxides, the electrophilic oxidation of thiirene oxides to thiirene dioxides is feasible, probably because both the starting material and the end product can survive the reaction conditions (equation 21). 

An illustrative example of the Michael reaction is that of the thiirene dioxide 19b with either hydroxylamine or hydrazine to give desoxybenzoin oxime (87) and desoxybenzoin azine (88), respectively, in good yields6 (see equation 29). The results were interpreted in terms of an initial nucleophilic addition to the a, j8-unsaturated sulfone system, followed by loss of sulfur dioxide and tautomerization. Interestingly, the treatment of the corresponding thiirene oxide (18a) with hydroxylamine also afforded 86 (as well as the dioxime of benzoin), albeit in a lower yield, but apparently via the same mechanistic pathway6. 

Although the nucleophilic addition of secondary amines to thiirene dioxides can be interpreted as following the same mechanistic pathway, the reaction was found to be second order in amine119 (which is typical for the addition of amines to olefins in appropriate solvents13 2 133), and the addition is syn. As a result, mechanisms with a cyclic-concerted addition across the carbon-carbon bond, or a stepwise addition involving two molecules of amine per one molecule of thiirene dioxide, have been proposed. 

Although thiirene dioxides do not react with typical tertiary amines like triethylamine, they do react with the amidine 1,5-diazobicyclo-[4.3.0]-non-5-ene (DBN) to give a 1 1 adduct betaine119158 141, analogously to the reaction of thiirene dioxides with soft nucleophiles (equation 57). 

As formal a, /i-unsaturated sulfones and sulfoxides, respectively, both thiirene dioxides (19) and thiirene oxides (18) should be capable, in principle, of undergoing cycloaddition reactions with either electron-rich olefins or serving as electrophilic dipolarophiles in 2 + 3 cycloadditions. The ultimate products in such cycloadditions are expected to be a consequence of rearrangements of the initially formed cycloadducts, and/or loss of sulfur dioxide (or sulfur monoxide) following the cycloaddition step, depending on the particular reaction conditions. The relative ease of the cycloaddition should provide some indication concerning the extent of the aromaticity in these systems2. 

The ring-opening process leading to 164 (route a) is analogous to that which has been demonstrated to follow the cycloadditions of tosyl azide to certain enamines176. Similar results have been reported for the reaction of 2,3-diphenylcyclopropenone with 2-diazopropane177. Other 1,3-dipolar cycloadditions with thiirene dioxides could also be affected (see below). 

The synthetic potential of such transformations for the preparation of medium-size heterocycles172 has been discussed elsewhere2. It is generally accepted that the reaction between thiirene dioxides and enamines is a stepwise (nonconcerted) thermal [2 -I- 2] cycloaddition. However, a concerted [4 + 2] cycloaddition, in which the lone pair of the enamine nitrogen atom participates, cannot be excluded. 

Interestingly, benzonitrile oxide does not react with thiirene dioxide 19b even in boiling benzene, whereas the electron-rich diene l-piperidino-2-methyl-l, 3-pentadiene (177) does react under the same reaction conditions to give the expected six-membered [4 + 2] cycloadduct 178, accompanied by sulfur dioxide extrusion and 1,3-hydrogen shift to form the conjugated system 179175 (equation 70). 

Most thiirene dioxides (and oxides) have been prepared through a modified Ramberg-Backlund reaction as the last crucial cyclization step, as illustrated in equation 40 for the benzylic series . Synthesis of thiirene dioxides requires two major modifications of the originally employed reaction first, the inorganic base has to be replaced by the less basic and less nucleophilic triethylamine - and second, the aqueous media has to be substituted by an aprotic organic solvent (e.g. methylene chloride). Under these mild reaction conditions the isolation of aryl-substituted thiirene dioxides (and oxides) is feasible . In fact, this is the most convenient way for the preparation of the aryl-disubstituted three-membered ring sulfones and sulfoxides. ... 

To summarize under favorable conditions the acidity of a-hydrogens facilitates the generation of a-sulfoxy and a-sulfonyl carbanions in thiirane and thiirene oxides and dioxides as in acyclic sulfoxides and sulfones. However, the particular structural constraints of three-membered ring systems may lead not only to different chemical consequences following the formation of the carbanions, but may also provide alternative pathways not available in the case of the acyclic counterparts for hydrogen abstraction in the reaction of bases. 

Reaction of dichlorobenzyl sulfones with base (thiiren-1,1-dioxides)... 

It is intriguing to note that this reaction scheme for the reduction of a sulphone to a sulphide leads to the same reaction stoichiometry as proposed originally by Bordwell in 1951. Which of the three reaction pathways predominates will depend on the relative activation barriers for each process in any given molecule. All are known. Process (1) is preferred in somewhat strained cyclic sulphones (equations 22 and 24), process (2) occurs in the strained naphtho[l, 8-hc]thiete 1,1-dioxide, 2, cleavage of which leads to a reasonably stabilized aryl carbanion (equation 29) and process (3) occurs in unstrained sulphones, as outlined in equations (26) to (28). Examples of other nucleophiles attacking strained sulphones are in fact known. For instance, the very strained sulphone, 2, is cleaved by hydride from LAH, by methyllithium in ether at 20°, by sodium hydroxide in refluxing aqueous dioxane, and by lithium anilide in ether/THF at room temperature. In each case, the product resulted from a nucleophilic attack at the sulphonyl sulphur atom. Other examples of this process include the attack of hydroxide ion on highly strained thiirene S, S-dioxides , and an attack on norbornadienyl sulphone by methyllithium in ice-cold THF . ... 

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