Asymmetric oxidation of sulfides with H2O2 catalyzed by titanium complexes of Schiff bases bearing a dicumenyl salicylidenyl unit

The sterically hindered Schiff bases (L³–L⁵), prepared from 3,5‐dicumenyl salicylaldehyde and chiral amino alcohols, were used in combination with Ti(OiPr)₄ for asymmetric oxidation of aryl methyl sulfides with H₂O₂ as terminal oxidant. Among the ligands L³–L⁵, L⁴ with a tert‐butyl group in the chiral carbon of the amino alcohol moiety gave the best result with 89% yield and 73% ee for the sulfoxidation of thioanisole under optimal conditions [with 1 mol% of Ti(OiPr)₄ in a molar ratio of 100:1:1.2:120 for sulfide:Ti(OiPr)₄:ligand:H₂O₂ in CH₂Cl₂ at 0 °C for 3 h]. The reaction afforded good yield (84%) with a moderate enantioselectivity (62% ee) even with a lower catalyst loading from 1.0 to 0.5 mol%. The oxidations of methyl 4‐bromophenyl sulfide and methyl 4‐methoxyphenyl sulfide with H₂O₂ catalyzed by the Ti(OiPr)₄–L⁴ system gave 79–84% yields and 54–59% ee of the corresponding sulfoxides in CH₂Cl₂ at 20 °C. The chiral induction capability of the cumenyl‐modified sterically hindered Schiff bases for sulfoxidation was compared with the conventional Schiff bases bearing tert‐butyl groups at the 3,5‐positions of the salicylidenyl unit. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.