Stereoselective cyclizations and rearrangements in vinyl radicals promoted by regioselective sulfanyl radical addition to enynes

Regioselective radical addition of 4-cyanotoluenethiol (1a) to enynes 3-6 leads to vinyl radicals 7-10 that can undergo five- or six-membered cyclization onto styrene or terminal double bonds in competition with 5-exo cyclization onto the aryl ring, The latter affords spiro-cyclohexadienyl radical intermediates which can either be trapped by 2-cyanoisopropyl radicals or give 1,4-aryl migration products. Regioselective radical addition of phenethanethiol (1b) to enynes 3-6 gives radicals 11-14 which undergo five- or six-membered cyclization onto the alkene double bond; the stereoelectronically disfavored 6-exo cyclization can compete with intermolecular hydrogen abstraction and (to a small extent) with 1,5-hydrogen migration. The 5- and 6-(pi-exo)exo cyclization of vinyl radicals 7, 9, 11-13 is highly stereoselective and exclusively or predominately affords products deriving from the (Z)-isomers. Stereochemical evidence indicates that the six-membered endo-cyclization products 30 and 50 could derive from a direct 6-endo cyclization of (E)-radicals (E)-10 and (E)-14 rather than from a 5-exo cyclization/ring expansion process. Sulfanyl radical addition to enynes 3-5 is highly regioselective to the terminal triple bond. In contrast, reaction elf thiols 1a,b with enyne 6 leads to products deriving from sulfanyl radical addition to both the CC triple and double bond. This behavior is accounted for by assuming that sulfanyl radical addition to the alkyne triple bond is not reversible, while the addition to the alkene double bond is. Vinyl radical 10 affords product 33 by a rare 1,4-hydrogen migration/fragmentation process.