Allyl alcohols acyclic, epoxidation

Andersson also showed that, in addition to meso-desymmetrization, kinetic resolution of some cyclic epoxides by use of the first-generation catalyst was also possible, giving both epoxides and allylic alcohols in good yields (Scheme 7.51) [108], Kozmin reported the effective use of the same catalyst in the desymmetrization of diphenylsilacyclopentene oxide. The resulting products could be used in the ster-eocontrolled syntheses of various acyclic polyols (Scheme 7.52) [109]. 

In acyclic secondary -allylic alcohols, epoxidation by the vanadium system shows opposite stereospecificity to that of peracid and molybdenum carbonyl-mediated epoxidation (see Scheme 6)22 The predominance of the erythro isomer in the former process is rationalized22 in terms of the energetically more favorable transition state (6, cf. 5) and in this context the mechanism has analogy in the epoxidation behavior of medium-ring cyclic allylic alcohols.23... 

Related catalytic enantioselective processes It is worthy of note that the powerful Ti-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation procedure of Sharpless [27] is often used in the preparation of optically pure acyclic allylic alcohols through the catalytic kinetic resolution of easily accessible racemic mixtures [28]. When the catalytic epoxidation is applied to cyclic allylic substrates, reaction rates are retarded and lower levels of enantioselectivity are observed. Ru-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation has been employed by Noyori to effect the resolution of five- and six-membered allylic carbinols [29] in this instance, as with the Ti-catalyzed procedure, the presence of an unprotected hydroxyl function is required. Perhaps the most efficient general procedure for the enantioselective synthesis of this class of cyclic allylic ethers is that recently developed by Trost and co-workers, involving Pd-catalyzed asymmetric additions of alkoxides to allylic esters [30]. 

In the epoxidation of acyclic allylic alcohols (Scheme 6), the diastereoselectivity depends significantly on the substitution pattern of the substrate. The control of the threo selectivity is subject to the hydroxyl-group directivity, in which conformational preference on account of the steric interactions and the hydrogen bonding between the dioxirane oxygen atoms and the hydroxy functionality of the allylic substrate steer the favored 7r-facial... 

Allylic and cis-homoallylic alcohols are epoxidized readily, but frans-homoallylic and bishomoallylic alcohols react slowly, if at all. The stereoselectivity in the epoxidation of acyclic allylic alcohols is the same as and is comparable to that observed with r-BuOOH/VO(acac)2. The stereoselectivity in epoxidation of acyclic homoallylic alcohols is also the same but lower than that obtained with t-BuOOH/ VO(acac)2. Epoxidation of cyclic allylic alcohols proceeds more slowly and in lower yield than that of acyclic allylic alcohols. 

Epoxy alcohols. A few years ago Mihelich1 was granted a patent for preparation of epoxy alcohols by photooxygenation of alkenes in the presence of titanium or vanadium catalysts. Adam et al.2 have investigated this reaction in detail and find that Ti(IV) isopropoxide is the catalyst of choice for epoxidation of di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted alkenes, acyclic and cyclic, to provide epoxy alcohols. When applied to allylic alcohols, the reaction can be diastereo- and enantioselective. The reaction actually proceeds in two steps an ene reaction to provide an allylic hydroperoxide followed by intramolecular transfer of oxygen catalyzed by Ti(0-i-Pr)4. The latter step is a form of Sharpless epoxidation and can be highly stereoselective. 

You saw at the end of the last chapter that the reactions of m-CPBA can be directed by hydroxyl groups, and the same thing happens in the reactions of acyclic alkenes. This allylic alcohol epoxidizes to give a 95 5 ratio of diastereoisomers. 

Table 8. Optimum Reported Diastereoselectivities in the Epoxidation of Simple Acyclic Allylic Alcohols and Their Silylated Synthetic Equivalents...

As far as the epoxidation of enantiomerically pure acyclic allylic alcohols is concerned, the Katsuki-Sharpless enantioselective epoxidation process can be applied (see Section 4.5.2.4.1. and Houben-Weyl, Vol. E13/2, p 1219, and Table 148, pp 1226-1230). If matched substrate/ catalyst combinations are employed, many, otherwise unselective, epoxidations may be rendered highly diastereoselective. 

Epoxidation of acyclic allyl alcohols with peracid and Mo/TBHP displays an opposite stereospecificity to that for the V/TBHP system. Trimethylsilyl-substituted allylic alcohols give t/zreo-epoxyalcohols with MCPBA and erythro-alcohols with VO(acac)a-TBHP, with high stereoselectivity. In the stereospecific epoxidation of cis- and trans-allyl alcohols, formation of a transition state is assumed with the development of two H bonds between the hydrogen atom of the hydroxy group of the allyl alcohol and the oxygen of the peracid, and between the hydrogen of the peracid OH and the oxygen of the ether 10. An analysis of the diastereometric transition-state interactions for stereoselective epoxidation of acyclic allylic alcohols has been published. A conformational effect may be responsible for the unexpected cis major product in Eq. 2. 

WL Adam, A. K. Smerz, Solvent effects in the regio- aird diastereoselective epoxidations of acyclic allylic alcohols by dimethyldioxirane Hydrogen bonding as evidence for a dipolar transition state, J. Org. Chem. 61 (1996) 3506. 

W. Adam, C. M. Mitchell, C. R. Saha-Moller, Regio- and Diastereoselective Catalytic epoxidation of acyclic allylic alcohols with methyltrioxorhenium A mechanistic comparison with metal (peroxy and peroxo complexes) and nonmetal (peracids and dioxirane) oxidants, J. Org. Chem. 64 (1999) 3699. 

For acyclic allylic alcohols, very little a,p-unsaturated enone formation was observed besides epoxidation. Chemoselectivity was much less for cyclic allylic alcohols, for which oxidation of fhe allylic alcohol group competed significantly with epoxidation. In the case of 2-cyclohexenol as the substrate, the enone was even found to be the main product. A comparative sandwich POM-catalyzed epoxidation study of various (subsfifufed) cycloalkenols revealed that the enone versus epoxide chemoselectivity is controlled by the C=C-C-OH dihedral angle Ma in the allylic alcohol substrate. The more this dihedral angle deviates from fhe optimum C=C-C-OW dihedral angle otw for allylic acohol epoxidation, the more enone is formed (Fig. 16.5). 

---