An Efficient, General Synthesis of Alkylsulfinyltoluidides

Abstract

Corey and Durst¹ have demonstrated the utility of N,α-dilithioalkyl-sulfinamides (1) as reagents for the quasi-Wittig reaction with aldehydes and ketones, and a one-step preparation of ketones from esters. Despite this promise, these reagents have seen few applications, due in large part to the inconvenience of preparing the precursor sulfinamide (2) via the corresponding sulfinyl chloride.^1,2