Limitations,mechanism and understanding of the origins of stereocontrol in (S)-dimethylsulfonium-(p-tolylsulfinyl)methylide-mediated epoxidation reactions

The reaction of the (S)-dimethylsulfonium-(p-tolylsulfinyl)methylide with aldehydes gave α,β-epoxy sulfoxides with high enantioselectivity and diastereoselectivity dependent on the aldehyde. The mechanism of the ‘model’ reactions [ylide substituted with Me S(O) or Ph S(O) with MeCHO or PhCHO] has been studied in detail using density functional theory.