N-nitrosothialdine. Synthesis,X-ray crystallography,and N-N rotational barrier

Crystalline N-nitrosothialdine ($\text{2}$) has been prepared in 38% yield by treating thialdine ($\text{1}$) with $\text{n}$-butyl nitrite and acetic acid in hexane. X-Ray crystallography of $\text{2}$ revealed that its three methyl groups are a11 $\text{cis}$ and, rather surprisingly, all equatorial; this finding contrasts sharply with results for other nitrosamine heterocycles which have been investigated, whose bulky alpha substituents are forced into a primarily axial orientation by the large steric requirement of the N-N-0 system. The equatorial methyl group both displaces the nitroso group from the C-N-C plane and twists it somewhat about the N-N bond. N-Nitrosothialdine's unusually low barrier to rotation about the N-N bond (72 kJ/mole) is attributed to this steric crowding, combined with inductive electron withdrawal by the two sulfur atoms.