Thiols from carbonyl compounds

Several reports by Gennari et a/. describe the generation of enolates directly from carbonyl compounds by using ethylenedioxychloroborane (B-chloro-2,5-dioxaborolane 118) in the presence of diiso-propylethylamine. Reactions of these enolates, derived from ketones and thiol esters, with aldehydes provide good yields (60-85%) of aldol adducts, whereas esters give unsatisfactory yields (-30%). V en ethyl ketones or propanethioates are employed, Z )-enolates (119) can be formed exclusively using specific reaction conditions, and excellent syn selectivities (92 8 to 99 1) ate observed (Scheme 48). 

Thiols can be obtained from carbonyl compounds, the oxygen atom of the latter being replaced by SH and H, if hydrogen sulfide or sulfur is used in the presence of hydrogen and a catalyst that is not poisoned by sulfur 391... 

Amines, thiols, eOH (p. 226), etc., will also add to the 0-carbon atom of 0-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and esters, but the most important reactions of C=C—C=0 systems are in Michael reactions with carbanions reactions in which carbon-carbon bonds are formed. A good example is the synthesis of l,l-dimethylcyclohexan-3,5-dione (dimedone, 100) starting from 2-methylpent-2-ene-4-one (mesityl oxide, 101) and the carbanion 0CH(CO2Et)2 ... 

Aggarwal et al.108 reported excellent results with the catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of aldehydes. As shown in Scheme 4-52, a series of thioacetals 137 was prepared from hydroxy thiol 136 and the corresponding carbonyl compound. Among them, compound 138, derived from 136 and acetaldehyde, proved to be the best catalyst for asymmetric epoxidation of aldehydes. 

This reaction is based on a stoichiometric reaction of multifunctional olefins (enes) with thiols. The addition reaction can be initiated thermally, pho-tochemically, and by electron beam and radical or ionic mechanism. Thiyl radicals can be generated by the reaction of an excited carbonyl compound (usually in its triplet state) with a thiol or via radicals, such as benzoyl radicals from a type I photoinitiator, reacting with the thiol. The thiyl radicals add to olefins, and this is the basis of the polymerization process. The addition of a dithiol to a diolefin yields linear polymer, higher-functionality thiols and alkenes form cross-linked systems. 

Alcohols can also be prepared from support-bound carbon nucleophiles and carbonyl compounds (Table 7.4). Few examples have been reported of the a-alkylation of resin-bound esters with aldehydes or ketones. This reaction is complicated by the thermal instability of some ester enolates, which can undergo elimination of alkoxide to yield ketenes. Traces of water or alcohols can, furthermore, lead to saponification or transesterification and release of the substrate into solution. Less prone to base-induced cleavage are support-bound imides (Entry 2, Table 7.4 see also Entry 3, Table 13.8 [42]). Alternatively, support-bound thiol esters can be converted into stable silyl ketene acetals, which react with aldehydes under Lewis-acid catalysis (Entries 3 and 4, Table 7.4). 

Although only a few hydrocarbons have been studied it appears that most of them react with OH with a rate constant of ca. 109 M-1 s 1. Methane is about 4 times less reactive than this value, and cyclopentane and cyclohexane about 5 times more reactive. Alcohols, amines, ethers, and many esters also fall in the same range. Carboxylic acids and carbonyl compounds seems to be to a certain degree less reactive. Lower reactivity is also found for the protonated forms of amines and amino acids. Direct reaction of OH with the substituent is usually unimportant except for a few cases such as thiols, where H is easily abstracted from the SH, or nitroso com-... 

As discussed in Section 4.19.2.2.2(i), imino, one or thione derivatives of thiazolidine are in tautomeric equilibrium (Scheme 60). Furthermore, many thiazolidines are in equilibrium with an acyclic thiol form or, in aqueous media, with the / -mercaptoalkylamine and the carbonyl compound from which they were formed (Scheme 71). The position of the equilibrium depends on the nature of the ring substituents. 

The central ring of both dibenzo[l,4]- dithiins and -oxathiins is cleaved on treatment with Li and a catalytic amount of 4,4"-di-rert-butylbiphenyl (DTBB) to afford thiols after reaction of the dilithio intermediate with electrophiles. In certain instances, the initial product can be cyclised to the dibenzo- dithiepine and -oxathiepine <02CL726>. The dilithio salt from thianthrene reacts sequentially with two different carbonyl compounds to give a l,2-di(hydroxyalkyl)benzene. When C02 is used as the second electrophile, a phthalan results <02TL7205>. 

The following reactions proceed with the participation of the allylic boron system (i) allylboration and protolytic cleavage of organic compounds with multiple bonds, (ii) allylboron-alkyne condensation,598 599 (iii) reductive mono-and trans-a,a -diallylation of nitrogen aromatic compounds, (iv) disproportionation processes between tribut-2-enylborane and BX3 (X = C1, Br, OR, SR). Allylboration of carbonyl compounds, thioketones, imines, or nitriles leads to the homoallylic alcohols, thiols, or amines (Equations (136) and (137). It is most important that 1,2-addition to aldehydes and imines proceeds with high diastereoselectivity so that ( )-allylic boranes and boronates give the anti-products, while -products are formed preferentially from (Z)-isomers. 

Thiols and sulphides quench triplet carbonyl compounds. Evidence (including that from CIDNP studies) indicates that these reactions occur by a radical rather than an electron-transfer pathway (Cohen et al., 1979 Ver-meesch et al., 1978). It is interesting to note that sulphides will deoxygenate ketones producing sulphoxides, sulphones and presumably carbenes (Fox et al., 1979). Phosphines quench triplet carbonyl compounds (Davidson and Lambeth, 1969). They also deoxygenate carbonyl compounds to produce phosphine oxides and carbenes, and in this case, the reaction was proposed as occurring by an electron-transfer process (Fox, 1979). 

Introduction of a double bond. The /3-oxidation pathway begins when fatty acid forms a thiol ester with coenzyme A to give a fatty acyl CoA. Two hydrogen atoms are then removed from carbons 2 and 3 by an acyl CoA dehydrogenase enzyme to yield an ,/3-unsaturated acyl CoA. This kind of oxidation—the introduction of a conjugated double bond into a carbonyl compound—occurs frequently in biochemical pathways and is usually carried out by the coenz5nne flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAJ ). Reduced FADH is the by-product. 

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