Asymmetric Copper-Catalyzed [2,3]-Sigmatropic Rearrangements of Alkyl- and Aryl-Substituted Allyl Sulfides

The asymmetric copper-catalyzed generation and subsequent [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of sulfur ylides is strongly dependent on the structure of the starting allyl sulfide. A series of alkyl and aryl substituted allyl sulfides (2a-i) were reacted with ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of copper triflate (CuOTf) and a C2-symmetric bis-oxazoline ligand (5a-c). The degree of asymmetric induction ranged from 2.8% for allyl methyl sulfide (2a) to 60% for (1S,2S,5R)-(+)-allyl menthyl sulfide (2d). The enantioselectivity of the reactions was also dependent on the electronic nature of the sulfide; allyl phenyl sulfide (2e) gave a 14% ee, whereas allyl p-methoxyphenyl sulfide (2i) produced only an 8% ee. The stereochemistry of 2d and (1R,2S,5R)-(+)-allyl menthyl sulfide (7) was assigned on the basis of NMR spectroscopic experiments.