Synthesis of substituted 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes and 2-substituted benzo[b]thiophenes

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4039(00)00870-4

Simple and rapid single-pot preparations of substituted 2- mercaptobenzaldehydes 5 and 2-substituted benzo[b]thiophenes 3 based on ortho-lithiation methodology are described. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Full text of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4039(00)00870-4

Tetrahedron Letters 41 (2000) 5415±5418
Synthesis of substituted 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes and
2-substituted benzo[b]thiophenes
Timothy Gallagher,a David A. Pardoea,b,* and Roderick A. Porterb
aSchool of Chemistry, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TS, UK
bDiscovery Research, SB Pharmaceuticals, New Frontiers Science Park, Harlow CM19 5AW, UK
Received 12 April 2000; accepted 23 May 2000
Abstract
Simple and rapid single-pot preparations of substituted 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes 5 and 2-substituted
benzo[b]thiophenes 3 based on ortho-lithiation methodology are described. # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.
The literature describes several methods for the preparation of 2-substituted benzo[b]thiophenes
3.1 Most notably, the method of Hsaio et al.2 gives benzo[b]thiophenes 3 from 2-mercaptobenzoic
acids 1 via reduction, in situ S-alkylation and re-oxidation to benzaldehyde 2, which undergoes
cyclisation as shown in Scheme 1.
.
.
Scheme 1. Reagents: (i) LiAlH4; (ii) XCH2EWG; (iii) SO3 C5H5N, (CH3)2SO, NEt3 EWGˆCO2Et, CN, COPh, COMe
Hsaio's route is amenable to the ecient preparation of 2-substituted benzo[b]thiophenes 3 in
60±70% overall yield (for three steps); however, this methodology su€ers from two drawbacks.
These relate to the limited commercial availability of substituted 2-mercaptobenzoic acids 1 while the
use of lithium aluminium hydride further limits the versatility and synthetic scope of the sequence.
We have now developed an alternative, general and rapid `one-pot' synthesis of both 2-sub-
stituted benzo[b]thiophenes 3 and 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes 5 from readily available benzaldehydes.
* Corresponding author. E-mail: david_pardoe-1@sbphrd.com
0040-4039/00/$ - see front matter # 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0040-4039(00)00870-4

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The process which is outlined in Scheme 2, exploits the a-amino alkoxide-mediated ortho-lithiation
of benzaldehydes devised by Comins,3 circumventing the redox sequence used by Hsaio and
avoiding the use of LiAlH4.
Scheme 2. Reagents: (i) LiN(Me)(CH2)2N(Me)2, THF, n-BuLi, S8, HCl; (ii) 6 (see Table 2), K2CO3, THF
Elemental sulfur has frequently been used as an electrophile to quench ortho-lithiated inter-
mediates to give aryl thiols.4 In the sequence shown in Scheme 2, the corresponding substituted 2-
mercaptobenzaldehydes 5a±e were isolated in moderate yield and with reasonable levels of purity
(Table 1). Thiols 5 are quite unstable and attempts to carry out a rigorous puri®cation resulted in
extensive decomposition.2,5 Direct S-alkylation of intermediate thiol 5 with activated electro-
philes 6a±d (Table 2) and in situ aldol condensation gave the target 2-substituted benzo[b]thio-
phenes 8a±j as shown in Scheme 2 and Table 3. In the case of 8j, the intermediate benzaldehyde 7j
was isolated in 20% yield and cyclised (using Hsaio's conditions2) to give 8j in 15% overall yield
from 4b.
Table 1
Yields for 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes 5a±e
Table 2
Electrophiles 6 (X±CH2 EWG)
In summary, we have described a `one-pot' procedure for the preparation of a range of 2-sub-
stituted benzo[b]thiophenes 8. Although the overall yields of 2-substituted benzo[b]thiophenes
8a±j are, in general, lower than those reported by Hsaio et al. our approach is more versatile and
more direct. In addition, the chemistry described in this paper also provides a viable route for the
synthesis of the labile 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes 5a±e.

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Table 3
Yields for benzo[b]thiophenes 8a±j from reaction of 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes 5 with electrophiles 6a±e
General method of preparation for substituted 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes 5a±e: n-Butyl lithium
(2.5 M in hexanes, 8.4 cm3, 21 mmol) was added to a solution of N,N,N0-trꢀimethylethylenediamine
(2.25 g, 2.5 cm3, 22 mmol) in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (60 cm3) at ^20 C under argon and the
mixture was stirred for 15 min. Neat aldehyde 4 (20 mmol) was added and the mixture stirred at
^20ꢀC for 24 h. The reaction mixture was then cooled to ^40ꢀC and treated with sulfur (1.67 g,
52 mmol). After stirring for a further 3 h at ^20ꢀC, the mixture was quenched with 2 M hydro-
chloric acid and extracted with ethyl acetate. The combined extracts were washed with water,
then brine, dried (MgSO4) and the solvents evaporated to yield the corresponding thiol as a
yellow oil which could be stored at ^10ꢀC under argon. Routinely, the thiol was used immediately
without puri®cation.
2-Mercapto-4-methoxybenzaldehyde 5c: Isolated as a yellow oil; ꢀH (250 MHz, CDCl3) 3.81
(3H, s, ArOCH3), 6.26 (1H, s, ArSH), 6.84 (2H, m, ArH), 7.60 (1H, d, J=8.04, ArH), 9.45 (1H, s,
ArCHO); m/z 168 (MÁ+, 100%), 134 (MÁ+^34); HRMS for C8H8O2S (M+) calcd: 168.0245; found:
168.0244.
General method of preparation for benzo[b]thiophenes 8a±j: A mixture of 2-mercaptobenzalde-
hyde 5 (1.3 mmol) and potassium carbonate (1.3 mmol) in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (4 cm3)
was treated with the required alkylating agent 6 (2.6 mmol) and shaken for 24 h. The solution was
diluted with water and extracted with ethyl acetate. The combined extracts were washed with
water then brine, dried (MgSO4) and the solvents removed in vacuo to yield the crude product.
Alternatively, following the preparation of 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes 4, the intermediate thio-
late mixture (after stirring for 3 h at ^20ꢀC and prior to quenching) was treated directly with 2
equivalents of the alkylating agent 6 to a€ord the benzo[b]thiophenes 8 in a `one-pot' operation.
Chromatography over silica (MERCK 15111) with dichloromethane/hexane gave the benzo[b]-
thiophenes 8 as yellow crystalline solids.
2-Acetyl-6-methoxybenzo[b]thiophene 8c: Isolated as a yellow crystalline solid, m.p. 124±125ꢀC
(EtOH); ꢁmax (Nujol mull)/cm^1 1680 (CˆO); ꢀH (400 MHz, CDCl3) 2.68 (3H, s, ArCOCH3), 3.92
(3H, s, ArOCH3), 6.98 (1H, dd, J=2.28 and 8.82, ArH), 7.28 (1H, d, J=2.30, ArH), 7.83 (1H, d,

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J=8.81, ArH), 7.94 (1H, s, ArH); m/z 206 (MÁ+, 80%), 191 (MÁ+^15, 100%); HRMS for
C11H10O2S (M+) calcd: 206.0402; found: 206.0406.
References
1. For examples, see: (a) from 2-nitrobenzaldehydes: Kolasa, T.; Brooks D. W. Synth. Commun. 1993, 23, 743±748;
(b) from 2-mercaptobenzaldehydes: Friedlander, P.; Lenk, E. Ber. 1912, 45, 2083±2090.
2. Hsiao, C.-N.; Bhagavatula, L.; Pariza, R. J. Synth. Commun. 1990, 20, 1687±1695.
3. Comins, D. L.; Brown, J. D. J. Org. Chem. 1984, 49, 1078±1083.
4. (a) Wardell, J. L. In The Chemistry of the Thiol Group, Part 1; Patai, S., Ed.; John Wiley & Sons, 1974; pp. 211±
215; (b) Ogawa, S.; Yomoji, N.; Chida, S.; Sato, R. Chem. Lett. 1994, 507±510.
5. Gotthardt, H.; Ho€mann, N. Ann. 1985, 3, 529±535; Corrigan, M. F.; West, B. O. Aust. J. Chem. 1976, 29, 1413±
1427.