Alkenes osmium dihydroxylation

Abstract The applications of hybrid DFT/molecular mechanics (DFT/MM) methods to the study of reactions catalyzed by transition metal complexes are reviewed. Special attention is given to the processes that have been studied in more detail, such as olefin polymerization, rhodium hydrogenation of alkenes, osmium dihydroxylation of alkenes and hydroformylation by rhodium catalysts. DFT/MM methods are shown, by comparison with experiment and with full quantum mechanics calculations, to allow a reasonably accurate computational study of experimentally relevant problems which otherwise would be out of reach for theoretical chemistry. 

The computational study of the osmium dihydroxylation of aliphatic al-kenes is much more complicated than the case of aromatic alkenes due to the large number of conformations that the former could adopt. To overcome this issue, we considered the system to be composed of two different parts the catalyst and the olefin. For the catalyst, the conformation considered is that from the X-ray structure. As already shown in the study of styrene [95], and in some experimental works [98], the catalyst is a fairly rigid molecule. For the aliphatic alkenes under study, there is a large number of possible conformations in addition, the stability of an olefin conformation is also affected by the interactions between the olefin substituent and the catalyst. Therefore, the catalyst must be included in the conformational search. The conformational analysis was done using a scheme based on the systematic search approach [99]. The strategy consisted of two parts first we developed a method to identify all of the possible conformations afterwards, we screened all of the possible conformations at MM level to select the most stable. Finally, we only carried out the relatively expensive QM/MM calculations on these selected conformations. 

From the standpoint of general applicability, and scope the osmium-catalyzed asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes (Sharpless dihydroxylation) has reached a level of effectiveness which is unique among asymmetric catalytic methods . In the presence of an optimized catalyst ligand system nearly every class of olefin can be dihydroxylated with high enantioselectivities. 

Pandit and coworkers also prepared a functionahzed tricyclic core (148) by a different version of the intramolecular Diels-Alder reaction (Scheme 13). For further introduction of an alkenyl group, the trisubstituted alkene in 148 was subjected to osmium dihydroxylation followed by dehydration imder... 

Another important reaction associated with the name of Sharpless is the so-called Sharpless dihydroxylation i.e. the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes upon treatment with osmium tetroxide in the presence of a cinchona alkaloid, such as dihydroquinine, dihydroquinidine or derivatives thereof, as the chiral ligand. This reaction is of wide applicability for the enantioselective dihydroxylation of alkenes, since it does not require additional functional groups in the substrate molecule ... 

With this reaction, two new asymmetric centers can be generated in one step from an achiral precursor in moderate to good enantiomeric purity by using a chiral catalyst for oxidation. The Sharpless dihydroxylation has been developed from the earlier y -dihydroxylation of alkenes with osmium tetroxide, which usually led to a racemic mixture. 

Scheme 12.7. Enantioselective Osmium-Catalyzed Dihydroxylation of Alkenes...

Syn-Dihydroxylation. When the reaction was first discovered, the syn-dihydroxylation of alkenes was carried out by using a stoichiometric amount of osmium tetroxide in dry organic solvent.56 Hoffman made the observation that alkenes could react with chlorate salts as the primary oxidants together with a catalytic quantity of osmium tetroxide, yielding syn-vicinal diols (Eq. 3.11). This catalytic reaction is usually carried out in an aqueous and tetrahydrofuran solvent mixture, and silver or barium chlorate generally give better yields.57... 

A very effective way of carrying out syn-dihydroxylation of alkenes is by using an osmium tetroxide-tertiary amine N-oxide system. This dihydroxylation is usually carried out in aqueous acetone in either one-or two-phase systems, but other solvents may be required to overcome problems of substrate solubility.61... 

The osmium-catalyzed dihydroxylation reaction, that is, the addition of osmium tetr-oxide to alkenes producing a vicinal diol, is one of the most selective and reliable of organic transformations. Work by Sharpless, Fokin, and coworkers has revealed that electron-deficient alkenes can be converted to the corresponding diols much more efficiently when the pH of the reaction medium is maintained on the acidic side [199]. One of the most useful additives in this context has proved to be citric acid (2 equivalents), which, in combination with 4-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMO) as a reoxidant for osmium(VI) and potassium osmate [K20s02(0H)4] (0.2 mol%) as a stable, non-volatile substitute for osmium tetroxide, allows the conversion of many olefinic substrates to their corresponding diols at ambient temperatures. In specific cases, such as with extremely electron-deficient alkenes (Scheme 6.96), the reaction has to be carried out under microwave irradiation at 120 °C, to produce in the illustrated case an 81% isolated yield of the pure diol [199]. 

Scheme 6.96 Osmium-catalyzed dihydroxylation of electron-deficient alkenes.

Oxidation of alkenes with osmium tetraoxide is much more moderate than similar oxidations with permanganate. This makes OSO4 a very reliable reagent for cis dihydroxylation. 

The history of asymmetric dihydroxylation51 dates back 1912 when Hoffmann showed, for the first time, that osmium tetroxide could be used catalytically in the presence of a secondary oxygen donor such as sodium or potassium chlorate for the cA-dihydroxylation of olefins.52 About 30 years later, Criegee et al.53 discovered a dramatic rate enhancement in the osmylation of alkene induced by tertiary amines, and this finding paved the way for asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins. 

Since Sharpless discovery of asymmetric dihydroxylation reactions of al-kenes mediated by osmium tetroxide-cinchona alkaloid complexes, continuous efforts have been made to improve the reaction. It has been accepted that the tighter binding of the ligand with osmium tetroxide will result in better stability for the complex and improved ee in the products, and a number of chiral auxiliaries have been examined in this effort. Table 4 11 (below) lists the chiral auxiliaries thus far used in asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes. In most cases, diamine auxiliaries provide moderate to good results (up to 90% ee). 

In summary, the reaction of osmium tetroxide with alkenes is a reliable and selective transformation. Chiral diamines and cinchona alkakoid are most frequently used as chiral auxiliaries. Complexes derived from osmium tetroxide with diamines do not undergo catalytic turnover, whereas dihydroquinidine and dihydroquinine derivatives have been found to be very effective catalysts for the oxidation of a variety of alkenes. OsC>4 can be used catalytically in the presence of a secondary oxygen donor (e.g., H202, TBHP, A -methylmorpholine-/V-oxide, sodium periodate, 02, sodium hypochlorite, potassium ferricyanide). Furthermore, a remarkable rate enhancement occurs with the addition of a nucleophilic ligand such as pyridine or a tertiary amine. Table 4-11 lists the preferred chiral ligands for the dihydroxylation of a variety of olefins.61 Table 4-12 lists the recommended ligands for each class of olefins. 

Also fifteen years of painstaking work and the gradual improvement of the system, the Sharpless team announced that asymmetric dihydroxylation (AD) of nearly every type of alkene can be accomplished using osmium tetraoxide, a co-oxidant such as potassium ferricyanide, the crucial chiral ligand based on a dihydroquinidine (DHQD) (21) or dihydroquinine (DHQ) (22) and metha-nesulfonamide to increase the rate of hydrolysis of intermediate osmate esters 1811. 

Polymer-supported [e.g. 8, 9] and silica-supported [10] cinchona alkaloids have been used in the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes using osmium tetroxide. Enantiomeric excesses >90% have been achieved for diols derived from styrene derivatives. 

About a decade after the discovery of the asymmetric epoxidation described in Chapter 14.2, another exciting discovery was reported from the laboratories of Sharpless, namely the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes using osmium tetroxide. Osmium tetroxide in water by itself will slowly convert alkenes into 1,2-diols, but as discovered by Criegee [15] and pointed out by Sharpless, an amine ligand accelerates the reaction (Ligand-Accelerated Catalysis [16]), and if the amine is chiral an enantioselectivity may be brought about. 

Asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes using osmium tetroxide... 

After the "asymmetric epoxidation" of allylic alcohols at the very beginning of the 80 s, at the end of the same decade (1988) Sharpless again surprised the chemical community with a new procedure for the "asymmetric dihydroxylation" of alkenes [30]. The procedure involves the dihydroxylation of simple alkenes with N-methylmorpholine A -oxide and catalytic amounts of osmium tetroxide in acetone-water as solvent at 0 to 4 °C, in the presence of either dihydroquinine or dihydroquinidine p-chlorobenzoate (DHQ-pClBz or DHQD-pClBz) as the chiral ligands (Scheme 10.3). 

The work by E.J. Corey [37], M. Hirama [38] and K. Tomioka [39], and their associates, on asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes with chiral diamine-osmium tetroxide complexes also deserves to be mentioned. 

Dihydroxylations and aminohydroxylations of alkenes are important reactions in organic synthesis in order to introduce 1,2-functionalization into simple unsaturated precursors. Since these transformations mostly involve toxic osmium tetrox-ide or valuable chiral hgands, attempts to immobilize those reagents are especially appealing. 

Other functionalized supports that are able to serve in the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes were reported by the groups of Sharpless (catalyst 25) [88], Sal-vadori (catalyst 26) [89-91] and Cmdden (catalyst 27) (Scheme 4.13) [92]. Commonly, the oxidations were carried out using K3Fe(CN)g as secondary oxidant in acetone/water or tert-butyl alcohol/water as solvents. For reasons of comparison, the dihydroxylation of trons-stilbene is depicted in Scheme 4.13. The polymeric catalysts could be reused but had to be regenerated after each experiment by treatment with small amounts of osmium tetroxide. A systematic study on the role of the polymeric support and the influence of the alkoxy or aryloxy group in the C-9 position of the immobilized cinchona alkaloids was conducted by Salvadori and coworkers [89-91]. Co-polymerization of a dihydroquinidine phthalazine derivative with hydroxyethylmethacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate afforded a functionalized polymer (26) with better swelling properties in polar solvents and hence improved performance in the dihydroxylation process [90]. 

The Sbarpless asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes usually employs a stoichiometric amount of iodine or potassium ferricyanide to re-oxidisc the osmium centred intermediates in the catalytic cycle [73]. Either reagent can also be used in catalytic amounts and re-oxidised electrochemically at an anode [74, 75]. 

Osmium-catalyzed oxidation is one of the most useful routes to dihydroxylation of alkenes to give the corresponding diols. This oxidation proceeds in the presence... 

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