Self-Assembly of a Trithioorthoformate-Capped Cyclophane and Its Endohedral Inclusion of a Methine Group.
Mary S CollinsTrevor A ShearElizabeth K SmithS Michael StrainLev N ZakharovDarren W JohnsonPublished in: Chemistry (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) (2019)
An unusual trithioorthoformate-capped cyclophane cage was assembled via antimony-activated iodine oxidation of thiols as confirmed by 1 H-NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. The disulfide bridges can undergo desulfurization with hexamethylphosphorous triamide (HMPT) at ambient temperature to capture a trithioether cyclophane cage capped by the trithioorthoformate. In both cages a methine proton points directly into the small cavity. This unexpected structure is hypothesized to have formed as a result of haloform insertion during oxidation.