Carbenoid reactions of Dimethyl Diazomalonate with aromatic Thioketones and 1,3-Thiazole-5(4H)-thiones

Abstract

Dimethyl diazomalonate (4) and thiobenzophenone (2a) do not react in toluene even after warming to 50°. After addition of catalytic amounts of Rh2(OAc)4, a smooth reaction under N2 evolution afforded a mixture of thiiranedicarboxylate 5 and (diphenylmethylidene)malonate 6 (Scheme 2 ). A reaction mechanism via an intermediate ‘thiocarbonylylide’ 7, formed by the addition of the carbenoid species 8 to the S-atom of 2a, is plausible. Similar reactions were carried out with 9H-xanthene-9-thione (2b), 9H-thioxanthene-9-thione (2c, Scheme 4 ), and 1,3-thiazole-5(4H)-thione 18 (Scheme 6). In the cases of 2b and 2c, spirocyclic 1,3-dithiolanetetracarboxylates 14a and 14b, respectively, were obtained as the third product. Reaction mechanisms for their formation are proposed in Scheme 5: S-transfer from intermediate thiirane 12 to the carbenoid species yielded thioxomalonate 15 which underwent a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with ‘thiocarbonyl ylide’ 16. An alternative is the formation of ‘thiocarbonyl ylide’ 17 via carbene addition to 15, followed by 1,3dipolar cycloaddition with 2b and 2c, respectively.