Synthesis of New Chiral Ligands Based on Thiophene Derivatives for Use in Catalytic Asymmetric Oxidation of Sulfides

We discovered that the vanadium complexes of new Schiff base ligands and prepared from thiophene derivatives efficiently catalyze the asymmetric oxidation of sulfides by hydrogen peroxide to provide sulfoxides with enantioselectivities up to 79% ee and in yields up to 89%. Notably, Schiff base showed better or similar enantioselectivity than the well-studied Schiff base. These results suggest possible applications of Schiff bases derived from and in other catalytic asymmetric reactions. Chiral sulfoxides are important functional groups for various applications. For example, the biological activities of sulfoxide containing drugs such as omeprazole are strongly related to the chirality of the sulfoxide group; for this reason, esomeprazole, the enantiomerically pure form of omeprazole, was later developed. There are several chiral sulfoxide based drugs that have been introduced by the pharmaceutical industry including armodafinil, aprikalim, oxisurane, and ustiloxin. Chiral sulfoxides have also been utilized as chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric syntheses of chiral intermediates