Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of the Thiol-Promoted Fragmentation of 2-Halo-3-tosyl-oxanorbornadienes

Org Lett. 2023 Oct 20;25(41):7481-7485. doi: 10.1021/acs.orglett.3c02548. Epub 2023 Oct 10.

Abstract

2-Halo-3-tosyl-oxanorbornadienes are able to accept two thiol molecules through an initial nucleophilic substitution, giving isolable oxabicyclic thiovinyl sulfones that, subsequently, can react with a second thiol molecule via thio-Michael addition. The resulting oxanorbornenic thioketals undergo retro-Diels-Alder (rDA) fragmentation to release a furan derivative and a ketene S,S-acetal. The substitution pattern of the oxanorbornadienic skeleton influences the rate of the rDA through electronic and steric factors examined by quantum mechanical calculations.