The structure of dialkoxy disulfides ROSSOR has been established
by single-crystal X-ray diffraction
of 1, ArCH2OSSOCH2Ar (Ar =
4-nitrophenyl). The gauche conformation (OSSO dihedral
angle =
85.4°) observed in the solid state entails the existence of M and P
enantiomers that were actually
detected in solution, in the case of MeOSSOMe,
t-BuOSSOBu-t, and t-BuOSSOMe
(3, 4, 5,
respectively), by means of NMR spectroscopy in a chiral environment.
The activation parameters
(ΔG
⧧, ΔH
⧧, and
ΔS
⧧) for the stereomutation of this type of
enantiomers, brought about by the S−S
bond rotation at high temperature (50−110 °C), were measured by
computer line shape simulation
of the dynamic NMR spectra of appropriate derivatives bearing alkyl
substituents with potentially
diastereotopic geminal groups. The free energies of activation for
such a process (18−19 kcal mol-1,
depending on the compound) were found to be much higher than for the
corresponding disulfides
(RSSR), owing to the larger S−S double-bond character, as indicated
by the shorter S−S bond
length (1.957 vs 2.057 Å, respectively).