Mechanistic investigations of alcohol silylation with isothiourea catalysts.

The mechanism of the asymmetric silylation of alcohols with isothiourea catalysts was studied by employing reaction progress kinetic analysis. These reactions were developed by the Wiskur group, and use triphenyl silyl chloride and chiral isothiourea catalysts to silylate the alcohols. While the order of most reaction components was as expected (catalyst, amine base, alcohol), the silyl chloride was determined to be a higher order. This suggested a multistep mechanism between the catalyst and silyl chloride, with the second equivalent of silyl chloride assisting in the formation of the reactive intermediate leading to the rate-determining step. Through the addition of additives and investigating changes in the silyl chloride, an understanding of the catalyst equilibrium emerged for this reaction and provided pathways for further reaction development.

Cycloaddition/Electrocyclic Ring Opening Sequence between Alkynyl Sulfides and Azodicarboxylates To Provide N,N-Dicarbamoyl 2-Iminothioimidates.

The α-oxidized thioimidates are useful bidentate ligands and are important motifs in pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and fungicides. Despite their broad utility, a direct route for their synthesis has been elusive. Herein, we describe a one-step synthesis of N,N-dicarbamoyl 2-iminothioimidates from easily accessible thioacetylenes and commercially available azodicarboxylates (20 examples, ≤99% yield). Additionally, the mechanism of the transformation was extensively explored by variable-temperature NMR, in situ IR, and quantum mechanical simulations. These experiments suggest that the reaction commences with a highly asynchronous [2 + 2] cycloaddition, which leads to a four-membered diazacyclobutene intermediate with a barrier consistent with the observed reaction rate. This intermediate was then isolated for subsequent kinetic measurements, which yielded an experimental barrier within 1 kcal/mol of the calculated barrier for a subsequent 4π electrocyclic ring opening leading to the observed iminothioimidate products. This method represents the first direct route to α-oxidized thioimidates from readily accessible starting materials.

Understanding Internal Chirality Induction of Triarylsilyl Ethers Formed from Enantiopure Alcohols.

Chirality transmission from point chirality to helical chirality was explored using triarylsilyl ethers. Circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy was employed to show that the alcohol stereocenter of silylated, enantiopure secondary alcohols can transmit chirality to the aryl groups on the silicon resulting in a higher population of one helical conformation over another. Cotton effects characteristic of the aryl groups organized into one preferred conformation were observed for all of the compounds examined, which included both triphenyl- and trinaphthylsilyl groups. Alcohols with an R configuration typically induced a PMP helical twist, while an S configuration induced a MPM helical twist. Molecular modeling combined with solid-state structures also gave evidence signifying that point chirality adjacent to triphenylsilyl groups could bias the conformation of the phenyl groups. This work helps in our understanding of the origin of selectivity in our silylation-based kinetic resolutions and a role the phenyl groups play in that selectivity.