Thiols from carbocations

Formation of a symmetrical sulphide (a) (e.g. dipropyl sulphide, Expt 5.204), is conveniently effected by boiling an alkyl halide (the source of carbocations) with sodium sulphide in ethanolic solution. Mixed sulphides (b) are prepared by alkylation of a thiolate salt (a mercaptide) with an alkyl halide (cf. Williamson s ether synthesis, Section 5.6.2, p. 583). In the case of an alkyl aryl sulphide (R-S Ar) where the aromatic ring contains activating nitro groups (see Section 6.5.3, p. 900), the aryl halide is used with the alkyl thiolate salt. The alternative alkylation of a substituted thiophenol is described in Section 8.3.4, p. 1160. The former procedure is illustrated by the preparation of isobutyl 2,4-dinitrophenyl sulphide (Expt 5.205) from l-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and 2-methylpropane-1-thiol. 

Reaction of (284) with an aldehyde, ketone, or enol ether in the presence of acid results in an electrophilic substitution that produces a -ferrocenylalkyl carbocations that may be trapped by nucleophiles (azides, amines, thiols). This chemistry may be used to prepare enantiomerically pure ferrocene derivatives in a maimer that avoids resolution procedures (Scheme 86)." For example, the enol ether from (-)-menthone affords a kinetic carbocation (302) that may be trapped or allowed to rearrange to the more thermodynamically stable cation (303) and then trapped, thus offering a means of controlling the configuration of the stereocenter adjacent to the ferrocene unit. Use of an enantiomerically pure aldehyde derived from Q -pinene (304) affords a 1 1 carbocationic mixture that similarly isomerizes to a single cation. 

Aromatic chemicals are metabolized into unstable arene-oxides, which, as epoxides, are comparable to potentially equivalent electrophilic carbocations. These metabolites react easily with thiol groups derived from proteins, leading, for example, to hepatotoxicity. Bromobenzene seems to target a large group of functionally diverse hepatic proteins, as demonstrated recently in a proteomic analysis. The chemical is oxidized (Figure 33.10) into a 3,4-epoxide, which... 

In an acid dilute alcohol medium, comparable to wine (pH 3.2), de Freitas (1995) showed that the carbocation formed from procyanidin B3 (Figure 6.23) could easily react with a nucleophilic compound, such as ethanethiol. The 4-o -ethylthioflavan-3-ol derived from (-l-)-catechin has been isolated and synthesized (Figure 6.24). Its structure has been formally established by NMR of the proton and Ci3 after acetylation. Thiolysis is a standard technique using various thiols (toluene a-thiol, benzene thiol) to study procyanidic oligomer structures. This... 

A similar Nicolas-Pauson-Khand combination was used in a synthesis of the ketone analogue of biotin 7.98, required for biochemical studies (Scheme 7.25). In this case, the Nicholas reaction was intermolecular, between allyl thiol as the nucleophile and carbocation 7.94 generated from alcohol 7.93. The Pauson-Khand reaction was then between the dicobalt complexed alkyne 7.95 and the double bond from the thiol moiety. The Pauson-Khand reaction proceeded with no stereoselectivity, and the diastereoisomers had to be chromatographically separated at a later stage. The synthesis was completed by reduction of the alkene of cyclopentenone 7.96, without using palladium-catalysed hydrogenation due to the sulfide moiety, and ester hydrolysis. 

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