A sulfur stereogenic center is found in naturally occurring compounds and constitutes an important design element for pharmaceuticals and chiral auxiliaries. In view of the broad applications of S-stereogenic compounds, many methods were developed to enantioselectively construct the sulfur stereocenters. By contrast, the synthesis and isolation of S-stereogenic ylides was elusive although sulfonium ylides are important synthetic building blocks and such species have been proposed in the Doyle-Kirmse reaction. Using judicious substrate design, we have successfully developed the first catalytic enantioselective synthesis of sulfonium ylides with a chiral sulfur center. They are constructed from a broad array of sulfides in high yields (up to 98%) and enantioselectivities (up to 99%) through copper-catalyzed intramolecular carbene transfer reaction. The obtained ylides could be converted into alkylidenecyclopropanes with efficient sulfur-to-carbon chirality transfer.

硫手性中心存在于天然存在的化合物中，是药物和手性助剂的重要设计元素。鉴于硫立体异构化合物的广泛应用，人们开发了许多对映选择性构建硫立构中心的方法。相比之下，S-立体叶立德的合成和分离是难以捉摸的，尽管硫叶立德是重要的合成构件，此类物质已在 Doyle-Kirmse 反应中被提出。使用明智的底物设计，我们成功地开发了具有手性硫中心的硫叶立德的第一个催化对映选择性合成。它们由大量硫化物通过铜催化的分子内卡宾转移反应以高产率（高达 98%）和对映选择性（高达 99%）构建而成。获得的叶立德可以转化为具有有效的硫到碳手性转移的亚烷基环丙烷。