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Explorative and Mechanistic Studies of the Photooxygenation of Sulfides

The results of recent work on the dye-sensitized photooxygenation of sulfides is discussed. In the case of dialkyl sulfides, the weakly bonded adduct initially formed with singlet oxygen (the persulfoxide) decays unproductively unless protonation by an acid (an alcohol or a carboxylic acid) facilitates its conversion to the sulfoxide. The effect is proportional to the strength of the acid ( eg., less than 0.1% chloroacetic acid in benzene is sufficient for maximal efficiency) and corresponds to general acid catalysis, suggesting that protonation of the persulfoxide occurs. On the other hand, with sulfides possessing an activated hydrogen in α position (eg., benzyl and allyl sulfides), hydrogen transfer becomes an efficient process in aprotic media and yields a S-hydroperoxysulfoniumm ylide, possibly arising from a conformation of the persulfoxide that is different from the one protonated in the presence of acids. Calculations on some substituted sulfides support this hypothesis. This process, which leads to C -S bond fragmentation with formation of an aldehyde, may be viewed as a general method for the preparation of aryl and heteroaryl aldehydes. In this effort, mechanistic studies offered new hints on the structure of the intermediate persulfoxide.