Allyl alcohols asymmetric epoxidation

Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, asymmetric epoxidation of conjugated ketones, asymmetric sulfoxidations catalyzed, or mediated, by chiral titanium complexes, and allylic oxidations are the main classes of oxidation where asymmetric amplification effects have been discovered. The various references are listed in Table 4 with the maximum amplification index observed. 

Unlike the Sharpless epoxidation, which gives ehiral epoxides fix)m allylic alcohols, asymmetric epoxidation of unfimctionalized alkenes achieved by Jacobsen et al. [74],by using chiral salen-metal catalysts. Salen-Mn catalysts are preferred since manganese itself is relatively a low eost and nontoxic metal, primarily because of fewer side reaetions over other metal eomplexes. Variety of simple oxidants, such as PhlO, NaClO, and oxone are employed as reoxidants and best possible enantioselectivity for a given substrate could be achieved by choosing the proper metal-salen catalyst and reaction conditions [81], The catalyst can be Irne-tuned for required steric and electronic properties by making a variety of chiral salen ligands fi om various chiral diamines with salicylaldehyde derivates [82]. 

ASYMMETRIC EPOXIDATION OF ALLYLIC ALCOHOLS SHARPLESS EPOXIDATION... 

The addition of activated molecular sieves (zeolites) to the asymmetric epoxidation milieu has the beneficial effect of permitting virtually all reactions to be earned out with only 5-10 mol % of the Ti-tartrate catalyst [3,4]. Without molecular sieves, only a few of the more reactive allylic alcohols are epoxidized efficiently with less than an equivalent of the catalyst. The role of the molecular sieves is thought to be protection of the catalyst from (a) adventitious water and (b) water that may be generated in small amounts by side reactions during the epoxidation process. 

The presence of a stereogenic center at Cj of an allylic alcohol introduces an additional factor into the asymmetric epoxidation process in that now both enantiofacial selectivity and dias-tereoselectivity must be considered. It is helpful in these cases to examine epoxidation of each enantiomer of the allylic alcohol separately. Epoxidation of one enantiomer proceeds normally and produces an erythro epoxy alcohol in accord with the rules shown in Figure 6A.1. 

DIBAH reduction of 4 at -78 °C provides the corresponding trans-allylic alcohol. Successive epoxidation with meto-chloroperbenzoic acid (MCPBA) yields a single syn epoxide 5. The stereochemical assignment is proven by a second experiment using the asymmetric Sharpless epoxidation protocol. Both MCPBA and the Sharpless protocol using (-)-diethyl D-tartrate provided 5. 

The ability of the Sharpless epoxidation catalyst to differentiate between the two enantiomers of an asymmetric allyl alcohol affords a powerful synthetic tool to obtain optically pure materials through kinetic resolution.43 Because the procedure relies on one enantiomer of a secondary allyl alcohol undergoing epoxidation at a much faster rate than its antipode, reactions are usually run to 50-55% completion.22 In this way, resolution can often be impressive.18 25 26 44-46 An increase in steric bulk at the olefin terminus increases the rate of reaction.46 47... 

Chiral epoxides are important intermediates in organic synthesis. A benchmark classic in the area of asymmetric catalytic oxidation is the Sharpless epoxidation of allylic alcohols in which a complex of titanium and tartrate salt is the active catalyst [273]. Its success is due to its ease of execution and the ready availability of reagents. A wide variety of primary allylic alcohols are epoxidized in >90% optical yield and 70-90% chemical yield using tert-butyl hydroperoxide as the oxygen donor and titanium-isopropoxide-diethyltartrate (DET) as the catalyst (Fig. 4.97). In order for this reaction to be catalytic, the exclusion of water is absolutely essential. This is achieved by adding 3 A or 4 A molecular sieves. The catalytic cycle is identical to that for titanium epoxidations discussed above (see Fig. 4.20) and the actual catalytic species is believed to be a 2 2 titanium(IV) tartrate dimer (see Fig. 4.98). The key step is the preferential transfer of oxygen from a coordinated alkylperoxo moiety to one enantioface of a coordinated allylic alcohol. For further information the reader is referred to the many reviews that have been written on this reaction [274, 275]. 

Chiral Ligand for Asymmetric Catalysis. Dimethyl l-tartrate is a demonstrated chiral ligand for the Ti -catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols (Sharpless epoxidation), and the Zn -mediated asymmetric cyclo-propanation of allylic alcohols (Simmons-Smith reaction), see lodomethylzinc Iodide Enantioselectivities in these reactions... 

The enantioselective total synthesis of the annonacenous acetogenin (+)-parviflorin was accomplished by T.R. Hoye and co-workers." The b/s-tetrahydrofuran backbone of the natural product was constructed using a sequential double Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation and Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation. The bis allylic alcohol was epoxidized using L-(+)-DET to give the essentially enantiopure bis epoxide in 87% yield. 

In the laboratory of D.P. Curran, the asymmetric total synthesis of (20R)-homocamptothecin was achieved using the Stale coupling and the SAE as key steps." The SAE was used to install the key C20 stereocenter. The ( )-allylic alcohol was epoxidized rapidly in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of L-(+)-DET and TBHP at -20 °C to afford the corresponding epoxide in 93% ee. Interestingly, the (Z)-allylic alcohol reacted with D-(-)-DET sluggishly and gave the epoxide in very iow yieid and with only 31% ee. 

Sharpless epoxidation of prochiral allylic alcohols. Asymmetric cat ... 

The first practical method for asymmetric epoxidation of primary and secondary allylic alcohols was developed by K.B. Sharpless in 1980 (T. Katsuki, 1980 K.B. Sharpless, 1983 A, B, 1986 see also D. Hoppe, 1982). Tartaric esters, e.g., DET and DIPT" ( = diethyl and diisopropyl ( + )- or (— )-tartrates), are applied as chiral auxiliaries, titanium tetrakis(2-pro-panolate) as a catalyst and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (= TBHP, Bu OOH) as the oxidant. If the reaction mixture is kept absolutely dry, catalytic amounts of the dialkyl tartrate-titanium(IV) complex are suflicient, which largely facilitates work-up procedures (Y. Gao, 1987). Depending on the tartrate enantiomer used, either one of the 2,3-epoxy alcohols may be obtained with high enantioselectivity. The titanium probably binds to the diol grouping of one tartrate molecule and to the hydroxy groups of the bulky hydroperoxide and of the allylic alcohol... 

A catalytic enantio- and diastereoselective dihydroxylation procedure without the assistance of a directing functional group (like the allylic alcohol group in the Sharpless epox-idation) has also been developed by K.B. Sharpless (E.N. Jacobsen, 1988 H.-L. Kwong, 1990 B.M. Kim, 1990 H. Waldmann, 1992). It uses osmium tetroxide as a catalytic oxidant (as little as 20 ppm to date) and two readily available cinchona alkaloid diastereomeis, namely the 4-chlorobenzoate esters or bulky aryl ethers of dihydroquinine and dihydroquinidine (cf. p. 290% as stereosteering reagents (structures of the Os complexes see R.M. Pearlstein, 1990). The transformation lacks the high asymmetric inductions of the Sharpless epoxidation, but it is broadly applicable and insensitive to air and water. Further improvements are to be expected. 

In all cases examined the ( )-isomers of the allylic alcohols reacted satisfactorily in the asymmetric epoxidation step, whereas the epoxidations of the (Z)-isomers were intolerably slow or nonstereoselective. The eryfhro-isomers obtained from the ( )-allylic alcohols may, however, be epimerized in 95% yield to the more stable tlireo-isomers by treatment of the acetonides with potassium carbonate (6a). The competitive -elimination is suppressed by the acetonide protecting group because it maintains orthogonality between the enolate 7i-system and the 8-alkoxy group (cf the Baldwin rules, p. 316). 

Enzymatic hydrolysis of A/-acylamino acids by amino acylase and amino acid esters by Hpase or carboxy esterase (70) is one kind of kinetic resolution. Kinetic resolution is found in chemical synthesis such as by epoxidation of racemic allyl alcohol and asymmetric hydrogenation (71). New routes for amino acid manufacturing are anticipated. 

The Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation reaction (most commonly referred by the discovering scientists as the AE reaction) is an efficient and highly selective method for the preparation of a wide variety of chiral epoxy alcohols. The AE reaction is comprised of four key components the substrate allylic alcohol, the titanium isopropoxide precatalyst, the chiral ligand diethyl tartrate, and the terminal oxidant tert-butyl hydroperoxide. The reaction protocol is straightforward and does not require any special handling techniques. The only requirement is that the reacting olefin contains an allylic alcohol. 

In 1980, Katsuki and Sharpless communicated that the epoxidation of a variety of allylic alcohols was achieved in exceptionally high enantioselectivity with a catalyst derived from titanium(IV) isopropoxide and chiral diethyl tartrate. This seminal contribution described an asymmetric catalytic system that not only provided the product epoxide in remarkable enantioselectivity, but showed the immediate generality of the reaction by examining 5 of the 8 possible substitution patterns of allylic alcohols all of which were epoxidized in >90% ee. Shortly thereafter. Sharpless and others began to illustrate the... 

Asymmetric catalytic epoxidation of allylic alcohols 93MI2. 

The asymmetric epoxidation of an allylic alcohol 1 to yield a 2,3-epoxy alcohol 2 with high enantiomeric excess, has been developed by Sharpless and Katsuki. This enantioselective reaction is carried out in the presence of tetraisopropoxyti-tanium and an enantiomerically pure dialkyl tartrate—e.g. (-1-)- or (-)-diethyl tartrate (DET)—using tcrt-butyl hydroperoxide as the oxidizing agent. 

In light of the previous discussions, it would be instructive to compare the behavior of enantiomerically pure allylic alcohol 12 in epoxidation reactions without and with the asymmetric titanium-tartrate catalyst (see Scheme 2). When 12 is exposed to the combined action of titanium tetraisopropoxide and tert-butyl hydroperoxide in the absence of the enantiomerically pure tartrate ligand, a 2.3 1 mixture of a- and /(-epoxy alcohol diastereoisomers is produced in favor of a-13. This ratio reflects the inherent diasteieo-facial preference of 12 (substrate-control) for a-attack. In a different experiment, it was found that SAE of achiral allylic alcohol 15 with the (+)-diethyl tartrate [(+)-DET] ligand produces a 99 1 mixture of /(- and a-epoxy alcohol enantiomers in favor of / -16 (98% ee). 

Scheme 3. Asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohol 12 double asymmetric induction.

The essential features of the Masamune-Sharpless hexose synthesis strategy are outlined in a general way in Scheme 4. The strategy is based on the reiterative- application of a two-carbon extension cycle. One cycle comprises the following four key transformations (I) homologation of an aldehyde to an allylic alcohol (II) Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of the allylic alcohol ... 

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