Allyl alcohols, asymmetric synthesis

When the allylic alcohol needed for asymmetric epoxidation is unavailable from a commercial source, reasonably general synthetic routes have been developed to allylic alcohols of several different substitution patterns. Good methods are available for the preparation of 3-substituted allylic alcohols, whereas synthesis of 2-substituted allylic alcohols is more problematic. The substrates for kinetic resolution, 1-substituted allylic alcohols, frequently can be derived by addition of alkenyl or alkynyl organometallic reagents to aldehydes followed by modification of the resulting product as required. 

It is possible to make the CH(OH) centre of the allylic alcohol asymmetric by an AE reaction. This is a kind of symmetry breaking, It is well illustrated by Fiirstner s synthesis of the only interesting piece 32 of the natural product (-)-balanol 31 a potential lead for development of protein kinase inhibitors.9 The two disconnections are trivial. 

Simple esters cannot be allylated with allyl acetates, but the Schiff base 109 derived from o -amino acid esters such as glycine or alanine is allylated with allyl acetate. In this way. the o-allyl-a-amino acid 110 can be prepared after hydrolysis[34]. The Q-allyl-o-aminophosphonate 112 is prepared by allylation of the Schiff base 111 of diethyl aminomethylphosphonates. [35,36]. Asymmetric synthesis in this reaction using the (+ )-A, jV-dicyclohex-ylsulfamoylisobornyl alcohol ester of glycine and DIOP as a chiral ligand achieved 99% ec[72]. 

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 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 ... 

The emergence of the powerful Sharpless asymmetric epoxida-tion (SAE) reaction in the 1980s has stimulated major advances in both academic and industrial organic synthesis.14 Through the action of an enantiomerically pure titanium/tartrate complex, a myriad of achiral and chiral allylic alcohols can be epoxidized with exceptional stereoselectivities (see Chapter 19 for a more detailed discussion). Interest in the SAE as a tool for industrial organic synthesis grew substantially after Sharpless et al. discovered that the asymmetric epoxidation process can be conducted with catalytic amounts of the enantiomerically pure titanium/tartrate complex simply by adding molecular sieves to the epoxidation reaction mix-... 

The synthesis of the trisubstituted cyclohexane sector 160 commences with the preparation of optically active (/ )-2-cyclohexen-l-ol (199) (see Scheme 49). To accomplish this objective, the decision was made to utilize the powerful catalytic asymmetric reduction process developed by Corey and his colleagues at Harvard.83 Treatment of 2-bromocyclohexenone (196) with BH3 SMe2 in the presence of 5 mol % of oxazaborolidine 197 provides enantiomeri-cally enriched allylic alcohol 198 (99% yield, 96% ee). Reductive cleavage of the C-Br bond in 198 with lithium metal in terf-butyl alcohol and THF then provides optically active (/ )-2-cyclo-hexen-l-ol (199). When the latter substance is treated with wCPBA, a hydroxyl-directed Henbest epoxidation84 takes place to give an epoxy alcohol which can subsequently be protected in the form of a benzyl ether (see 175) under standard conditions. 

A reiterative application of a two-carbon elongation reaction of a chiral carbonyl compound (Homer-Emmonds reaction), reduction (DIBAL) of the obtained trans unsaturated ester, asymmetric epoxidation (SAE or MCPBA) of the resulting allylic alcohol, and then C-2 regioselective addition of a cuprate (Me2CuLi) to the corresponding chiral epoxy alcohol has been utilized for the construction of the polypropionate-derived chain ]R-CH(Me)CH(OH)CH(Me)-R ], present as a partial structure in important natural products such as polyether, ansamycin, or macro-lide antibiotics [52]. A seminal application of this procedure is offered by Kishi s synthesis of the C19-C26 polyketide-type aliphatic segment of rifamycin S, starting from aldehyde 105 (Scheme 8.29) [53]. 

Asymmetric epoxidations of alkenes have been intensively studied since Sharpless initial report on asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols in 1980. This reaction, discussed in Section 9.1.3, has become one of the most widely employed reactions in asymmetric synthesis, due to its reliability and high enantioselectivity [2],... 

The development of Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation (SAE) of allylic alcohols in 1980 constitutes a breakthrough in asymmetric synthesis, and to date this method remains the most widely applied asymmetric epoxidation technique [34, 44]. A wide range of substrates can be used in the reaction ( ) -allylic alcohols generally give high enantioselectivity, whereas the reaction is more substrate-dependent with (Z)-allylic alcohols [34]. 

The past thirty years have witnessed great advances in the selective synthesis of epoxides, and numerous regio-, chemo-, enantio-, and diastereoselective methods have been developed. Discovered in 1980, the Katsuki-Sharpless catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, in which a catalyst for the first time demonstrated both high selectivity and substrate promiscuity, was the first practical entry into the world of chiral 2,3-epoxy alcohols [10, 11]. Asymmetric catalysis of the epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins through the use of Jacobsen s chiral [(sale-i i) Mi iln] [12] or Shi s chiral ketones [13] as oxidants is also well established. Catalytic asymmetric epoxidations have been comprehensively reviewed [14, 15]. 

Allylsilanes are available by treatment of allyl acetates and allyl carbonates with silyl cuprates17-18, with antarafacial stereochemistry being observed for displacement of tertiary allyl acetates19. This reaction provides a useful asymmetric synthesis of allylsilanes using esters and carbamates derived from optically active secondary alcohols antarafacial stereochemistry is observed for the esters, and suprafacial stereochemistry for the carbamates20,21. 

Allylic alcohols can be converted to epoxy-alcohols with tert-butylhydroperoxide on molecular sieves, or with peroxy acids. Epoxidation of allylic alcohols can also be done with high enantioselectivity. In the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation,allylic alcohols are converted to optically active epoxides in better than 90% ee, by treatment with r-BuOOH, titanium tetraisopropoxide and optically active diethyl tartrate. The Ti(OCHMe2)4 and diethyl tartrate can be present in catalytic amounts (15-lOmol %) if molecular sieves are present. Polymer-supported catalysts have also been reported. Since both (-t-) and ( —) diethyl tartrate are readily available, and the reaction is stereospecific, either enantiomer of the product can be prepared. The method has been successful for a wide range of primary allylic alcohols, where the double bond is mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted. This procedure, in which an optically active catalyst is used to induce asymmetry, has proved to be one of the most important methods of asymmetric synthesis, and has been used to prepare a large number of optically active natural products and other compounds. The mechanism of the Sharpless epoxidation is believed to involve attack on the substrate by a compound formed from the titanium alkoxide and the diethyl tartrate to produce a complex that also contains the substrate and the r-BuOOH. ... 

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. 

The subsequent epoxidation of these in situ formed allylic tertiary alcohols yielded the corresponding syn-e oxy alcohols with high levels of diastereo- and enantioselectivity, thus providing a novel one-pot asymmetric synthesis of acyclic chiral epoxyalcohols via a domino vinylation epoxidation reaction (Scheme 4.17). ... 

---