Rearrangement of N- tert-Butanesulfinyl Enamines for Synthesis of Enantioenriched α-Hydroxy Ketone Derivatives

Org Lett. 2019 Oct 18;21(20):8383-8388. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.9b03159. Epub 2019 Oct 8.

Abstract

Treating chiral N-tert-butanesulfinyl ketimines with potassium hexamethyldisilazide (or potassium tert-butoxide) and methyl triflate gives N-methylated N-tert-butanesulfinyl enamine intermediates that undergo stereoselective [2,3]-rearrangement to afford α-sulfenyloxy ketones with excellent enantiopurities. This cascade of enamination-N-methylation-rearrangement was even used to generate acyclic tertiary α-hydroxy ketones bearing two α-substituents showing negligible differences in bulkiness, such as methyl and ethyl groups.