Vinyl sulfone- and vinyl sulfoxide-modified tetrahydrofurans: a preliminary account of the enantiomeric synthesis of and diastereoselectivity of addition to new classes of Michael acceptors

Enantiomerically pure 2-hydroxymethylene substituted-2,5-dihydro-3-(arylsulfonyl)- and 2-hydroxymethylene substituted-2,5-dihydro-3-(arylsulfinyl)-furans have been prepared from easily accessible carbohydrate derivatives for the first time. The strategy for accessing both these sulfones and sulfoxides is more efficient than the methods reported so far for the synthesis of this type of compounds. Hydroxymethylene group is sufficient to impose diastereoselectivity on the addition of a wide range of nucleophiles to vinyl sulfone-modified tetrahydrofurans. The benzyl protected hydroxymethylene group also suppresses the influence of chirally pure sulfoxides as two diastereomeric vinyl sulfoxide-modified tetrahydrofurans afforded the Michael adducts with same configurations at C-3 and C-4; this has been established by oxidizing the adducts, which were found to be identical to the products obtained by adding the same nucleophiles to the corresponding vinyl sulfones. These highly reactive Michael acceptors may be considered as a new addition to the arsenals of synthetic chemists interested in the functionalization of tetrahydrofurans. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.