Titanium-catalyzed, asymmetric sulfoxidation of alkyl aryl sulfides with optically active hydroperoxides

The Ti-catalyzed, asymmetric oxidation of alkyl aryl sulfides by enantiomerically pure hydroperoxides (ee >99%) has been examined. Enantioselectivities with ee values up to ca. 80% were achieved for the oxygen transfer from (S)-(-)-1-phenylethyl hydroperoxide 2a to methyl phenyl and methyl p-tolyl sulfide la in CCl4 as solvent, but with much overoxidation to the corresponding sulfone 4. Detailed mechanistic studies showed that the enantioselectivity of the sulfide la oxidation results from a combination of a rather low (ee values <20%) asymmetric induction in the sulfoxidation and an effective kinetic resolution (ee values ca. 80% at 85% sulfide conversion) of the sulfoxide 3a by enantioselective oxidation to the sulfone 4a. The overoxidation (loss of chemoselectivity) is due to sulfoxide coordination to the Ti metal to generate a template in which the oxygen atom is intramolecularly transferred from the bound and activated, optically active hydroperoxide to the ligated sulfoxide in a stereocontrolled manner.