444
C. Mukherjee et al. / Tetrahedron Letters 47 (2006) 441–445
and concomitant reaction of the thiolates and selenide
anions formed, in situ with a variety of glycosyl bro-
mides towards the formation of thio- and selenoglyco-
sides are listed in Table 1. It is worth mentioning that
the procedure can be employed for the preparation of
sialic acid 2-thio- and 2-selenoglycosides. The use of
other common solvents; for example, CH2Cl2, CHCl3,
THF, DMF and nitromethane did not produce the same
results as with acetonitrile.
Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi (Project
No. SR/FTP/CSA-10/2002), India.
References and notes
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A typical experimental procedure is as follows: To a
solution of diaryl or diaralkyldisulfide or diaryl disele-
nide (1.0 mmol) in CH3CN (5.0 ml) was added zinc-dust
(66.0 mg, 1.0 mmol) followed by fused ZnCl2 (ꢀ25 mg).
The reaction mixture was placed in a pre-heated oil bath
at 70 °C for 45 min during which time the reaction mix-
ture became turbid indicating the formation of zinc-
thiolate or selenide. A solution of per-O-acetylated gly-
cosyl bromide (2.0 mmol) in CH3CN (5.0 ml) was added
to the turbid reaction mixture which was then stirred at
70 °C for the appropriate time as indicated in Table 1.
After completion of the reaction (TLC; hexane/EtOAc
1:1), the reaction mixture was concentrated under re-
duced pressure and the crude mass was dissolved in
CH2Cl2 (25.0 ml). The organic layer was washed with
aq NaHCO3 solution and water dried (Na2SO4) and
evaporated to dryness. The crude products were purified
over SiO2 using hexane–EtOAc as eluant to furnish pure
aryl and aralkyl thio- and selenoglycosides, the struc-
tures of which were confirmed from their NMR and
mass spectra. All the known compounds prepared gave
acceptable 1H NMR and 13C NMR spectra that
matched the reported data. It is noteworthy that only
1,2-trans-thio- and selenoglycosides were formed under
the reaction conditions without formation of any ano-
merized product.44 During the preparation of this man-
uscript, a report appeared in the literature using RuCl3
catalyzed cleavage of diselenides in the presence of
zinc.45 However, the present protocol should be consid-
ered as the cheaper alternative as well as a general meth-
od for the preparation of thio- and selenoglycosides in
high yield.
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In summary, an odorless general methodology has been
developed for the preparation of a series of 1,2-trans-
thio- and selenoglycosides through zinc mediated reduc-
tion of diaryl and diarylalkyl disulfides and diselenides
followed by reaction of glycosyl bromides with the thio-
lates and selenides generated in situ. The fast, stereoselec-
tive formation of 1,2-trans thio- and selenoglycosides
without formation of anomerized products and avoiding
the use of toxic and malodorous thiols and selenols under
neutral reaction conditions makes this protocol better
than existing methodologies in this area.
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Acknowledgements
Instrumentation facilities from SAIF, CDRI are grate-
fully acknowledged. C.M. and P.T. thank CSIR, New
Delhi, for providing Junior and Senior research fellow-
ships. This project was funded by the Department of