Toward Novel Antioxidants: Preparation of Dihydrotellurophenes and Selenophenes by Alkyltelluride-Mediated Tandem S(RN)1/S(H)i Reactions(1).

Reaction of 1-(2-iodophenyl)-1-methyloxirane (12) with 2 equiv of sodium n-butyltellurolate (n-BuTeNa), generated by the sodium borohydride reduction of di-n-butyl ditelluride, in THF, affords 2,3-dihydro-3-hydroxy-3-methylbenzo[b]tellurophene (13) in 62% yield, together with a small quantity of 1-(n-butyltelluro)-2-phenyl-2-propanol (27). This transformation presumably involves a tandem S(RN)1/S(H)i sequence. Similar reactions of 1-(benzylseleno)-2-phenyl-2-propanol (5a, R = Me) and 1-allyloxy-2-iodobenzene (15) afforded 2,3-dihydro-3-hydroxy-3-methylbenzo[b]selenophene (17, 74%), and 3-(n-butyltelluro)methyl-2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]furan (18, 50%), respectively. Lithium alkyltellurolates, generated by direct tellurium insertion into the required alkyllithium, or sec-butyl or tert-butyl substitution on tellurium provide product distributions similar to those observed for reactions involving n-BuTeNa. Lithium or sodium phenyltellurolate returned only starting materials from these reaction mixtures. The 2-[2-(n-butyltelluro)-1-hydroxy-1-methyl]ethylphenyl radical (14) is estimated to cyclize with k(c) = 5 x 10(8) s(-)(1) at 25 degrees C. The tandem S(RN)1/S(H)i sequence has been applied to the preparation of the antioxidant analogues, 5-hydroxy-2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]tellurophene and selenophene (31, 32).