Nucleophilic substitution reactions of 2-deoxyglycosyl donors indicated that the reactivity of the oxygen nucleophile has a significant impact on stereoselectivity. Employing ethanol as the nucleophile resulted in a 1:1 (α:β) ratio of diastereomers under S N 1-like reaction conditions. Stereoselective formation of the 2-deoxy-α-O-glycoside was only observed when weaker nucleophiles, such as trifluoroethanol, were employed. The lack of stereoselectivity observed in reactions of common oxygen nucleophiles can be attributed to reaction rates of the stereochemistrydetermining step that approach the diffusion limit. In this scenario, both faces of the prochiral oxocarbenium ion are subject to nucleophilic addition to afford a statistical mixture of diastereomeric products. Control experiments confirmed that all nucleophilic substitution reactions were performed under kinetic control.

Nucleophilic substitution reactions of C-4 sulfur-substituted tetrahydropyran acetals revealed that neighboring-group participation does not control product formation. Spectroscopic evidence for the formation of an intermediate sulfonium ion is provided, as are data from nucleophilic substitution reactions demonstrating that products are formed from oxocarbenium ion intermediates. The selectivity was not sensitive to solvent or to which Lewis acid was employed. The identity of the heteroatom at the C-4 position also did not significantly impact diastereoselectivity. Consequently, neighboring-group participation was not responsible for the formation of either the major or the minor products. These studies implicate a Curtin-Hammett kinetic scenario in which the formation of a low-energy intermediate does not necessitate its involvement in the product-forming pathway.

This article details the approach to large-scale production of cyclobutane 2 by the continuous-flow [2 + 2] photocycloaddition of maleic anhydride and ethylene, including (1) focused reaction optimization and development of a robust isolation protocol, (2) the approach to equipment design and process safety, and (3) the results of commissioning tests and production runs delivering the target compound at throughputs exceeding 5 kg/day.

A powerful approach for controlling the stereochemistry of glycosylation reactions involves using a directing group at an adjacent carbon to influence the stereochemistry of nucleophilic attack. The use of substituents such as I, PhS, and PhSe has proven to be especially valuable because it enables the preparation of 2‐deoxysugars after reductive removal of the directing group. The mechanisms of these reactions are generally considered to involve nucleophilic opening of bridged onium ions and to proceed with inversion. Onium ions, however, equilibrate with open cations, and these open forms can be favored when the cation is highly stabilized. Although the selectivities of reactions of carbohydrate‐derived cations are consistent with the intermediacy of onium ions, the reactions of acyclic cations are not. Instead, consideration of the preferred conformations of the oxocarbenium ions and stereoelectronically favored additions to these intermediates provides a predictive model to explain the diastereoselectivities observed in reactions of oxocarbenium ions bearing proximal heteroatoms.(© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008)

Nucleophilic attack on seven-membered ring oxocarbenium ions is generally highly stereoselective. The preferred mode of nucleophilic attack forms the product in a conformation that minimizes transannular interactions, leading to different stereoselectivities compared to reactions involving six-membered ring oxocarbenium ions.