Recent advances in the chemistry of magnesium carbenoids

Stereoselective synthesis of tetrasubstituted alkenes via a sequential carbocupration and a new sulfur-lithium exchange

We have designed a new sequential carbocupration and sulfur-lithium exchange that leads stereo- and regioselectively to trisubstituted alkenyllithiums. Subsequent trapping with various electrophiles yields tetrasubstituted olefins with good control of the double-bond geometry (E/Z ratio up to 99:1). The novel sulfur-lithium exchange could be extended to the stereoselective preparation of Z-styryl lithium derivatives with almost complete retention of the double-bond geometry.

[Exploitation of the chemistry of magnesium carbenoids and their use in organic synthesis]

Synthetic organic chemistry is a base of medicinal chemistry and the exploitation of new methods for carbon-carbon bond formation is of most importance in synthetic organic chemistry. Carbenes and carbenoids have long been known to be highly reactive carbon species that show a variety of unique reactivity. However, those reactive species are not fully used in organic synthesis. The reasons are as follows: one is the precursors for the generation of carbenes and carbenoids are quite limited and the other is that the reactivity of the species is too high to control. In order to solve the problem mentioned above, we used alpha-haloalkyl (or alkenyl) aryl sulfoxides as the precursors and used sulfoxide-magnesium exchange reaction for generation of much mild magnesium carbenoids. alpha-Haloalkyl (or alkenyl) aryl sulfoxides are quite easily synthesized in high overall yields. Magnesium carbenoids, cyclopropylmagnesium carbenoids, cyclobutylmagnesium carbenoids, magnesium beta-oxido carbenoids, and magnesium alkylidene carbenoids are generated at low temperature from the corresponding sulfoxides with a Grignard reagent in quantitative yields. They were found to be stable usually at below -60 degrees C for at least 30 min. The each magnesium carbenoids have their own unique reactivities and we could find many unprecedented reactions from these reactive species. Recent results for the developments of new synthetic methods based on the chemistry of magnesium carbenoids are described.

Meta- and para-difunctionalization of arenes via a sulfoxide-magnesium exchange reaction

The aryl sulfoxide moiety (ArSO) allows an expedient two-step meta-, para-difunctionalization of readily available diaryl sulfoxides. In the first step, the sulfoxide plays the role of a directing metalation group. In the second step, triggered by i-PrMgCl x LiCl, it becomes a leaving group and undergoes a regioselective sulfoxide-magnesium exchange.