Chemoselective Rearrangement Reactions of Sulfur Ylide Derived from Diazoquinones and Allyl/Propargyl Sulfides

Org Lett. 2020 Nov 20;22(22):9091-9096. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.0c03493. Epub 2020 Nov 4.

Abstract

Here, we describe three types of rearrangement reactions of sulfur ylide derived from diazoquinones and allyl/propargyl sulfides. With Rh2(esp)2 as the catalyst, diazoquinones react with allyl/propargyl sulfides to form a sulfur ylide, which undergoes a chemoselective tautomerization/[2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement reaction, a Doyle-Kirmse rearrangement/Cope rearrangement cascade reaction, or a Doyle-Kirmse rearrangement/elimination reaction, depending on the substituent of the sulfides. The protocol provides alkenyl and allenyl sulfides and multisubstituted phenols with moderate and high yields.