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Sulfene−Pyridine Adducts: Lewis Acid/Base Complexes, Ylides, Pyridinium Sulfinate Zwitterions, or Carbene Ylide/SO2 Complexes?

✍ Scribed by Götz Bucher


Book ID
102177254
Publisher
John Wiley and Sons
Year
2003
Tongue
English
Weight
141 KB
Volume
2003
Category
Article
ISSN
1434-193X

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✦ Synopsis


Abstract

The reactions between a number of sulfenes and pyridine have been investigated by both density functional and ab initio theory. Two reaction channels were found. Addition of pyridine to the sulfene S atom produces products with the character of Lewis acid/base adducts. In polar solvents such as acetonitrile, scipcm calculations predict a shortening of the S−N bond with increasing ylide character, as revealed by long‐wavelength absorptions predicted by time‐dependent DFT calculations. Addition of pyridine to the sulfene C atom affords adducts better described as Lewis acid/base adducts between carbene pyridine ylides and SO~2~ rather than as pyridinium sulfinate zwitterions. Again, scipcm calculations predict tighter binding in polar solvents. In the series of sulfene‐pyridine adducts investigated, the C‐bound adduct was consistently lower in energy than the S‐bound adduct, by at least 15 kcal/mol. For the formation of the C‐bound adducts an activation enthalpy of 14 kcal/mol or larger is calculated, while the formation of S‐bound sulfene−pyridine adducts is predicted to proceed without any barrier. The S‐bound adducts are therefore formed in kinetically controlled reactions, while the C‐bound adducts are the thermodynamically favored products. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003)