Thiobenzophenone reactions with ketenimines

The formation of 1,3-oxathiolane with chloral and 1,3-dithio-lanes with cycloaliphatic thioketones occurs regioselectively to yield the sterically less hindered products. On the other hand, aromatic thioketones, e.g., thiobenzophenone or 9/ fluorene-9-thione, intercept 8 to give comparable amounts of both regio-isomeric adducts. Usually, stereoisomeric dipolarophiles such as fumaronitrile and maleonitrile as well as dimethyl fumarate and maleate form 18 in a stereoselective manner. However, in the case of extremely electron-poor dipolarophiles, e.g., dimethyl 1,2-dicyanofumarate or ( )-l,2-bis(trifluoromethyl)ethylene-l,2-dicarbonitrile, non-stereospecific formations of the corresponding tetrahydrothiophenes are described. i- s This result is interpreted in terms of a stepwise reaction mechanism with a zwitterion as the key intermediate. Alternatively, this intermediate can cyclize to form seven-membered ketenimines of type 20. With R = Cp3, this product can be isolated in a crystalline form, whereas in the case of R = CN, stable lactam 21 is obtained only after addition of water (eq 10). 

Sterically hindered thioketenes also react across C=S bond-containing substrates". For example, t-butyl(isopropyl)thioketene reacts with thiobenzophenone to give the [2+2] cycloadduct in 41 % yield. In the reaction of bis-trifluoromethylthioketene with sulfurdiimides an exchange reaction occurs, resulting in the formation of ketenimines in 20-48 % yields" ". ... 

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