Dirhodium(II) tetraacetate catalysed reactions of diazo thioamides: isolation and cycloaddition of anhydro-4-hydroxy-1,3-thiazolium hydroxides (thioisomünchnones), an approach to analogues of dehydrogliotoxin.

Dirhodium(II) tetraacetate catalysed reaction of the indoline diazo thioamide 8 gives the thioisomünchnone 9, a stable characterisable solid. This masked thiocarbonyl ylide undergoes 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with N-methylmaleimide and maleic anhydride to give the exo-cycloadducts 10 and 11, characterised by X-ray crystallography. The thioisomünchnone 18, derived from diazo thioamide 17, is an extremely stable crystalline mesoionic system which can be characterised by X-ray crystallography but fails to undergo intramolecular cycloaddition. The related thioisomünchnone 19 can be generated by reaction of indoline-2-thione 7 with bromoacetyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine, and undergoes cycloaddition to give adducts 20 and 21.