Alcohols, allylic with chiral oxidants

The crucial step of Overman s approach is essentially a Grewe-type disconnection but involves an intramolecular Heck reaction to complete ring B. An enantioselective reduction of 2-allyl-cyclohexeneone 195 introduced a chiral element. Condensation of the resultant S-alcohol, (196) with phenylisocyanate, oxidation of the sidechain olefin with osmium tetroxide and acetonide protection afforded 198, Scheme 22. A copper-... 

Asymmetric epoxidation is another important area of activity, initially pioneered by Sharpless, using catalysts based on titanium tetraisoprop-oxide and either (+) or (—) dialkyl tartrate. The enantiomer formed depends on the tartrate used. Whilst this process has been widely used for the synthesis of complex carbohydrates it is limited to allylic alcohols, the hydroxyl group bonding the substrate to the catalyst. Jacobson catalysts (Formula 4.3) based on manganese complexes with chiral Shiff bases have been shown to be efficient in epoxidation of a wide range of alkenes. 

Fig. 12.4. Successive models of the transition state for Sharpless epoxidation. (a) the hexacoordinate Ti core with uncoordinated alkene (b) Ti with methylhydroperoxide, allyl alcohol, and ethanediol as ligands (c) monomeric catalytic center incorporating t-butylhydroperoxide as oxidant (d) monomeric catalytic center with formyl groups added (e) dimeric transition state with chiral tartrate model (E = CH = O). Reproduced from J. Am. Chem. Soc., 117, 11327 (1995), by permission of the American Chemical Society. 

Using a stoichiometric amount of (i ,i )-DIPT as the chiral auxiliary, optically active 2-isoxazolines can be obtained via asymmetric 1,3-dipolar addition of achiral allylic alcohols with nitrile oxides or nitrones bearing an electron-withdrawing group (Scheme 5-53).86a Furthermore, the catalytic 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxide has been achieved by adding a small amount of 1,4-dioxane (Scheme 5-53, Eq. 3).86b The presence of ethereal compounds such as 1,4-dioxane is crucial for the reproducibly higher stereoselectivity. 

Chiral alkenyl and cycloalkenyl oxiranes are valuable intermediates in organic synthesis [38]. Their asymmetric synthesis has been accomplished by several methods, including the epoxidation of allyl alcohols in combination with an oxidation and olefination [39a], the epoxidation of dienes [39b,c], the chloroallylation of aldehydes in combination with a 1,2-elimination [39f-h], and the reaction of S-ylides with aldehydes [39i]. Although these methods are efficient for the synthesis of alkenyl oxiranes, they are not well suited for cycloalkenyl oxiranes of the 56 type (Scheme 1.3.21). Therefore we had developed an interest in the asymmetric synthesis of the cycloalkenyl oxiranes 56 from the sulfonimidoyl-substituted homoallyl alcohols 7. It was speculated that the allylic sulfoximine group of 7 could be stereoselectively replaced by a Cl atom with formation of corresponding chlorohydrins 55 which upon base treatment should give the cycloalkenyl oxiranes 56. The feasibility of a Cl substitution of the sulfoximine group had been shown previously in the case of S-alkyl sulfoximines [40]. 

Enantioselective deprotonation.2 The rearrangement of epoxides to allylic alcohols by lithium dialkylamides involves removal of the proton syn to the oxygen.3 When a chiral lithium amide is used with cyclohexene oxide, the optical yield of the resulting allylic alcohol is 3-31%, the highest yield being obtained with 1. 

Whereas these solid catalysts tolerate water to some extent, or even use aqueous H2O2 as the oxidant, the use of homogeneous Ti catalysts in epoxi-dation reactions often demands strictly anhydrous conditions. The homogeneous catalysts are often titanium alkoxides, possibly in combination with chiral modifiers, as in the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols (15). There has recently been an increase in interest in supporting this enantioselective Ti catalyst. 

Lithium amide deprotonation of epoxides is a convenient method for the preparation of allylic alcohols. Since the first deprotonation of an epoxide by a lithium amide performed by Cope and coworkers in 19585, this area has received much attention. The first asymmetric deprotonation was demonstrated by Whitesell and Felman in 19806. They enantioselectively rearranged me.vo-cpoxidcs to allylic alcohols for example, cyclohexene oxide 1 was reacted with chiral bases, e.g. (S,S) 3, in refluxing TFIF to yield optically active (/ )-2-cyclohexenol ((/ )-2) in 36% ee (Scheme 1). 

Fig. 3. Houk s "inside alkoxy model for the reaction of nitrile oxides with chiral allylic alcohols and ethers.

In the case of alkenes with polar functional groups, two-site attachment of the substrate to a chiral oxidant is possible and has allowed spectacular enantioselection. Thus, both the hydroperoxide anion based epoxidation of a,/ -unsaturated carbonyls and the epoxidation of allylic alcohols by the titanium(IV)-based Sharpless method exhibit very high enantioselectivity on a wide variety of substrates. 

Enantiopure isoxazolines were synthesized using both chiral nitrile oxides and chiral dipolarophiles. For example Mg(ll)-directed 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of nitrile oxides with chiral allylic alcohols 482 generated isoxazolines 483 (Scheme 111) <2001AGE2082>. Later, this cycloaddition was applied in a total synthesis of erythronolide A 484 (Scheme 111) <2005AGE4036>. 

The main applications of chiral oxidations are the epoxidation of double bonds, especially in allylic alcohols [221, 222, 223, 1026, 1027, 1028, 1030, 1031], the hydroxylation of double bonds [951, 1033] and of the a position with respect to an ester group [1032], and the oxidation of non-symmetrical sulfides to chiral sulfoxides [224, 1025, 1029]. Optical yields (enantiomeric excesses [ee]) are frequently over 95%. 

K. Barry Sharpless (bom 1941) received his PhD in 1968 at Stanford University. Since 1990 he is W. M. Keck Professor of Chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, USA. Among several other important discoveries. Sharpless developed catalysts for asymmetric oxidations. In 1980 he achieved the catalytic asymmetirc oxidation of allylic alcohols to chiral epoxides by utilizing titanium complexes with chiral ligands (e. g. Section 3.3.2). One of the many applications of chiral epoxides is the use of the epoxide (R)-glycidol for pharmaceutical production of beta-blockers. Sharpless received the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2001 together with Knowles and Noyori. 

Building on his work using the F- and D-labeled allylic alcohols above, Henry studied the Wacker reaction with chiral allylic alcohols that were suitable substrates for both allylic rearrangement (high Cl concentration) and oxidation (low CP concentration). There results are shown in Scheme 9.7.55... 

We have also explored the use of vanadium substituted Qi2 WZn(VO)2 (ZnWg034)2], prepared via metal exchange [Eq (16.2)], as a catalyst for allylic alcohol epoxidations with nonchiral and chiral organic hydroperoxides instead of PI2O2 as the terminal oxidant [8,17]. These conversions are assumed to proceed via V-alkylperoxido species. Besides the substantial as Tnmetric induction for a number of substrates with a chiral TADDOL-derived hydroperoxide, a particularly... 

As shown in racemic series [220], the stereoselectivity of the allylation of chiral 1,3-dioxanes 6.20 depends upon the reaction conditions and upon the nature of the reagent (silane or stannane). The most selective reagent is CH2=CHCH2SnBu3. Most of the reactions have been carried out with trimethyl-allylsilane in the presence of TiC1.4/Ti(0/-Pr)4 under the conditions recommended by Johnson and coworkers [213], After oxidation of the products and treatment with a base, nonracemic homoallylic alcohols are obtained with excellent enantiomeric excesses (Figure 6.58). From CH2=C=CHCH2SiMe3, dienyl alcohols are similarly obtained [1228, 1229] (Figure 6.58). The TiC -catalyzed reactions of dioxanes 6.20 with alkynylsilanes also lead to nonracemic a-alkynyl alcohols [223],... 

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