Key words
synthesis -
p-tolyl menthyl sulfinate - enantiopure - thionyl chloride -
p-tolyl - sulfinic acid
The chiral sulfoxide is one of the privileged motifs in asymmetric synthesis. Its
efficiency was initially proved in diastereoselective transformations as a chiral
auxiliary.[1] Subsequently, application of sulfoxides as a ligand in asymmetric catalysis[2] and also as a directing group for diastereoselective reactions, including C–H activation,
have emerged.[3]
To access enantiopure sulfoxides on a large scale, one of the most established and
still standard approaches is the Andersen procedure.[4] At the beginning of the 1960s, Andersen reported the synthesis of enantiopure sulfoxides
by addition of Grignard reagents to (1R,2S,5R)-(–)-menthyl (S)-p-toluenesulfinate (S)-1 (Scheme [1]), liberating (–)-menthol. To date, it is still the most widely used[1] and convenient way to obtain chiral sulfoxides.[2]
Gaspard Hedouinreceived his engineering degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de
Rennes and a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Rennes in 2017. Then,
he started a PhD at the University of Strasbourg, under the supervision of Pr. Françoise
Colobert and Dr. Joanna Wencel-Delord, which he will defend in early 2021. He is currently
working on the development of new diphosphine ligands and their application in asymmetric
catalysis.
Quentin Dherbassy received his PhD from the University of Strasbourg (France) in the group of Pr. Françoise
Colobert (2017, University of Strasbourg/CNRS, France). His doctoral studies focused
on the control of axial chirality by sulfoxide-directed C–H activation. He then joined
the Procter group (University of Manchester, UK) as a PDRA in 2018, studying borylative
copper-catalyzed asymmetric multicomponent reactions. He is currently a postdoctoral
fellow in the Moran Group (Isis, University of Strasbourg) working on the prebiotic
origins and functions of biological cofactors.
Scheme 1 (1R,2S,5R)-(–)-Menthyl (S)-p-toluenesulfinate and Andersen’s procedure
The preparation of (1R,2S,5R)-(–)-menthyl (S)-p-toluenesulfinate (S)-1 has been known for decades and was described for the first time in 1925 by Phillips
(Table [1], A).[5]
p-Toluenesulfinic acid, initially activated with thionyl chloride, is esterified with
a solution of (–)-menthol in pyridine to allow the formation of 1 as a diastereomeric mixture. Then, both diastereomers can be separated by crystallization
to afford pure (S)-1 with a yield lower than 50%. This major drawback was later overcome by the group
of Solladié.[6] Applying observations made by Herbrandson[7] and Mislow[8] concerning the racemization of sulfinic esters and sulfoxides in the presence of
hydrogen chloride, (S)-1 could be isolated on large scale in 80% yield thanks to iterative crystallization/epimerization
cycles (Table [1], B).
Table 1 Different Methodologies to Access the (1R,2S,5R)-(–)-Menthyl (S)-p-Toluenesulfinate; Price: 5.92 €/mmol on Sigma-Aldrich
(A) Philipps, 1925: first synthesis of (S)-1
price of production: 0.34 €/mmol
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(B) Solladié, 1987: modified procedure affording (S)-1 with yields higher than 50% thanks to successive crystallizations/epimerizations
price of production: 0.18 €/mmol
+ high yield
+ large scale
– excess of thionyl chloride
– benzene as solvent
– pyridine as base
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(C) Trost, 2013: use of p-toluenesulfonylchloride as starting material
price of production: 0.74 €/mmol
+ cheap starting material
+ short time reaction
+ simple reaction protocol
– purification via chromatography and crystallization
– 1 equivalent of triphenylphosphine oxide as waste
– low yield
– small scale
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(D) Hajipour, 2006: neat synthesis of 1 by grinding
price of production: 0.10 €/mmol for the diastereomeric mixture
+ very rapid reaction time
+ absence of solvent
+ yield
– purification via chromatography
– DCC toxicity as reagent and by-product
– products isolated as a mixture of diastereomers
– small scale
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(E) Wencel-Delord & Colobert, 2019: recent enhancement of the Solladié procedure
price of production: 0.14 €/mmol
+ decreased amount of thionyl chloride
+ solvent-free reaction (only used for azeotropic distillation of SOCl2)
+ pyridine replaced by triethylamine
+ large scale
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In addition to this efficient strategy, several other procedures have been described.
In 1987, Sharpless developed the synthesis of menthyl sulfinate esters, starting from
the cheaper starting material, p-toluenesulfonyl chloride (TsCl).[9] The sulfinyl chloride can be obtained in situ by reduction of the p-toluenesulfonyl chloride with trimethylphosphite, followed by the addition of (–)-menthol
to afford 1. More recently, the group of Trost has also applied this strategy, using triphenylphosphine
to reduce the toluenesulfonyl chloride into the desired sulfinyl chloride, which can
subsequently react with (–)-menthol to afford (S)-1 after iterative recrystallizations, albeit with a low yield (Table [1], C).[10]
Another major contribution has been reported by Hajipour who developed several methodologies
for the synthesis of 1 under solvent-free conditions. To avoid the use of the unstable and moisture-sensitive
sulfinyl chloride, he described various preparations of 1 from sulfinic acids, in solid phase using silica.[11] His final report demonstrated the efficiency of this general strategy by accomplishing
the esterification of p-toluenesulfinic acid with N,N′-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide as the coupling reagent. Grinding the reaction mixture
for a brief period allowed the formation of the desired sulfinate ester in an excellent
yield, but as a mixture of the two diastereomers (Table [1], D).[12] Likewise, the group of Hitchcock also developed the synthesis of sulfinate esters
by activation of the p-toluenesulfinic acid with EDC–HCl.[13]
Among these diverse methodologies, the procedure of Solladié remains the most convenient
and efficient to access menthyl p-toluenesulfinate (S)-1 on large scale. Slight modifications have been made since, for example, the use of
hydrated sodium sulfinate as starting material presented by Blakemore.[14] Moreover, our group has been actively involved in the chemistry of chiral sulfoxides
and recently a number of fundamental modifications of the reaction conditions have
been discovered to improve the Solladié procedure.
Following our developed methodology,[15] the reaction proceeds under solvent-free conditions instead of using benzene as
solvent. Additionally, to reduce the amount of thionyl chloride used for the formation
of the sulfinic chloride from the sulfinic acid, addition of a catalytic amount of
DMF allowed a significant decrease to 1.5 equivalents of SOCl2 (compared to the standard 5 equivalents). This modification renders the procedure
more suitable scale-up, having the advantage of consuming less solvent during the
azeotropic distillation of the excess thionyl chloride. Moreover, greater efficiency
is observed upon replacing pyridine with triethylamine. Thus, a tens-of-gram synthesis
of (S)-1, without significant byproduct formation, can be achieved in one day with an excellent
yield of 72% and a d.r. > 98:2 (Table [1], E). Furthermore, to compare the different procedures, the price of production[16] has been approximately evaluated. This clearly showed that all the published procedures
are significantly less costly than the commercial product (currently 5.92 €/mmol as
purchased from Sigma-Aldrich), but the protocol optimized in our laboratory is the
most cost-efficient (0.14 €/mmol) to afford diastereopure (S)-1.
As sulfoxides continue to be valuable moieties for stereoselective reactions, this
refinement should prove to be very helpful for the large-scale synthesis of this key
precursor, (1R,2S,5R)-(–)-menthyl (S)-p-toluenesulfinate [(S)-1].[17]