Intramolecular cyclization of ω‐haloalkylsubstituted thiophosphorylacetonitriles: Synthesis and stereochemistry of 3‐cyano‐2‐oxo‐1,2‐thiaphosphacyclanes

Intramolecular S‐alkylation in a series of ω‐haloalkyl‐substituted thiophosphorylacetonitriles 5–7 presents an effective synthetic route to the hitherto unknown 3‐cyano‐2‐oxo‐1,2‐thiaphospholanes 14 and thiaphosphinanes 15. The compounds were obtained as a mixture of cis‐ and trans‐isomers that were resolved to individual stereoisomers in most cases. For some of them, X‐ray diffraction analysis has been performed. It was shown that 31P NMR spectroscopy can be used to assign the stereochemistry of 3‐cyano‐2‐oxo‐1,2‐thiaphosphacyclanes.