摘要:
This dissertation concerns the design and synthesis of a range of C 2 -symmetric sulfur compounds, and their use in asymmetric reactions. Chapter 1 presents the concepts of asymmetric synthesis and the use of sulfur compounds in organic synthesis, before going on to discuss the published literature concerning experimental and computational investigations in the area of enantioselective sulfur-ylide epoxidation reactions. Chapter 2 discusses the sulfur compounds that were prepared, including some background as to why they were chosen, a description of the synthetic route towards each compound, the results of each epoxidation reaction, and finally a discussion of how each sulfide performed and improvements that could be made. Molecular modelling was carried out in conjunction with the experimental epoxidation studies; a force field capable of dealing with sulfonium-ylides was used to investigate the shape and relative energies of the sulfides, their corresponding sulfonium salts, and their ylides. Thus, it was possible to gain some insight into the conformation of the sulfides and to rationalise the enantioselectivities achieved experimentally. Chapter 3 introduces the Baylis-Hillman reaction. It begins with an overview of amine and phosphine catalysed reactions, including investigations that resulted in Baylis-Hillman products with a certain degree of enantioselectivity. It goes on to discuss in more detail the literature concerning Lewis acid catalysed Baylis-Hillman reactions, in particular those which were thought to be catalysed by chalcogenides. This leads into a report on the work that was carried out in this area which used chiral sulfides in an attempt to render the reaction asymmetric. The chapter closes with suggestions of future work to be carried out in this area.