Allylation of epoxides

Stereoselective addition of allyl metal reagents to various functionalities is an important reaction in organic synthesis [32, 33]. The allylation of epoxides and aziridines with allyltin reagent is catalyzed by Lewis acids. Even though many Lewis acids have been reported to catalyze this reaction, Bi(OTf)3 is distinct because it avoids the formation of byproducts and is also environmentally more compatible. It catalyzes the reaction of aryl epoxides with tetraallyltin to afford the corresponding homoallyllic alcohol [34]. 

Table 2 Allylation of epoxides and aziridines with tetrallyltin...

Hydroxyl groups are stable to peracids, but oxidation of an allylic alcohol during an attempted epoxidation reaction has been reported." The di-hydroxyacetone side chain is usually protected during the peracid reaction, either by acetylation or by formation of a bismethylenedioxy derivative. To obtain high yields of epoxides it is essential to avoid high reaction temperatures and a strongly acidic medium. The products of epoxidation of enol acetates are especially sensitive to heat or acid and can easily rearrange to keto acetates. 

In mosl allylation reactions, only a catalytic amount of CuCN-2LiCl is required [41]. Use of die chiral ferrocenylamine 104 as a catalyst makes enables asymmetric allylation of diorganozinc reagents to be effected witli allylic chlorides iScbeme 2.3G) [78]. Related electropb des such as propargylic bromides [79] and unsaturated epoxides [80] also undergo Su2 -substitution reactions iScbeme 2.37). 

The (3-elimination of epoxides to allylic alcohols on treatment with strong base is a well studied reaction [la]. Metalated epoxides can also rearrange to allylic alcohols via (3-C-H insertion, but this is not a synthetically useful process since it is usually accompanied by competing a-C-H insertion, resulting in ketone enolates. In contrast, aziridine 277 gave allylic amine 279 on treatment with s-BuLi/(-)-spar-teine (Scheme 5.71) [97]. By analogy with what is known about reactions of epoxides with organolithiums, this presumably proceeds via the a-metalated aziridine 278 [101]. 

The Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation (AE) procedure for the enantiose-lective formation of epoxides from allylic alcohols is a milestone in asymmetric catalysis [9]. This classical asymmetric transformation uses TBHP as the terminal oxidant, and the reaction has been widely used in various synthetic applications. There are several excellent reviews covering the scope and utility of the AE reaction... 

Table 6.2 Examples of epoxides generated by AE, applied to different primary allylic alcohols showing all eight basic substitution patterns.

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]. 

Although the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation is an elegant method to introduce a specific defined chirality in epoxy alcohols and thus, in functionalized aziridines (see Sect. 2.1), it is restricted to the use of allylic alcohols as the starting materials. To overcome this limitation, cyclic sulfites and sulfates derived from enantiopure vfc-diols can be used as synthetic equivalents of epoxides (Scheme 5) [12,13]. 

With allyl alcohol, carbon tetrachloride forms a complex mixture of epoxide compounds in C4 that detonate during their distillation. One of these epoxides is thought to be the following ... 

Base-Catalyzed. Ring Opening of Epoxides. Base-catalyzed ring opening of epoxides provides a route to allylic alcohols.150... 

Epoxides can also be converted to allylic alcohols using electrophilic reagents. The treatment of epoxides with trialkyl silyl iodides and an organic base gives the silyl ether of the corresponding allylic alcohols.154... 

C-branched sugars or C-oligosaccharides are obtainable through indium-promoted Barbier-type allylations in aqueous media.151 Indium-mediated allylation of a-chlorocarbonyl compounds with various allyl bromides in aqueous media gave the corresponding homoallylic chlorohydrins, which could be transformed into the corresponding epoxides in the presence of a base (Eq. 8.62).152... 

For the Ti(OiPr)4/silica system, the advantage of MCM-41 (a mesoporous silica) over an amorphous silica is not evident either in terms of activity or selectivity for the epoxidation of cyclohexene with H202 in tert-butyl-alcohol.148 Nevertheless, deactivation of the catalysts seems slower, although the selectivity of the recovered catalysts is also lower (allylic oxidation epoxidation = 1 1). Treatment of these solids with tartaric acid improves the properties of the Ti/silica system, but not of the Ti/MCM-41 system, although NMR,149 EXAFS,150 and IR151 data suggest that the same titanium species are present on both supports. 

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... 

The anti stereospecificity of epoxidation by the peracid is interpreted as due to association of the reagent with the allylic hydroxyl group which directs the entering oxygen atom to the same face of the molecule. The stereospecificity of bromohydrin formation is explicable in terms of steric approach control involving initial attack of the bulky bromine atom on the face opposite to the benzylic hydroxyl group (7). 

The asymmetric oxidation of organic compounds, especially the epoxidation, dihydroxylation, aminohydroxylation, aziridination, and related reactions have been extensively studied and found widespread applications in the asymmetric synthesis of many important compounds. Like many other asymmetric reactions discussed in other chapters of this book, oxidation systems have been developed and extended steadily over the years in order to attain high stereoselectivity. This chapter on oxidation is organized into several key topics. The first section covers the formation of epoxides from allylic alcohols or their derivatives and the corresponding ring-opening reactions of the thus formed 2,3-epoxy alcohols. The second part deals with dihydroxylation reactions, which can provide diols from olefins. The third section delineates the recently discovered aminohydroxylation of olefins. The fourth topic involves the oxidation of unfunc-tionalized olefins. The chapter ends with a discussion of the oxidation of eno-lates and asymmetric aziridination reactions. 

BASE-INDUCED REARRANGEMENT OF EPOXIDES TO ALLYLIC ALCOHOLS trans-Pinocarveol,... 

TT-ALLYLNICKEL HALIDES METHALLYLBENZENE, 52, 115 Rearrangement of epoxides to allylic alcohols, 53, 17 Reduction, by controlled-po-tential electrolysis, 52, 22 by lithium aluminum hydride of exo-3,4-dichlorobicyclo [3.2.l]oct-2-ene to 3-chlorobicyclo[3.2.l]oct-2-ene, 51, 61... 

An extensive set of experimental data on regioselectivity, face selectivity [106-109] and kinetics [110] of allylic alcohol epoxidation by the MTO system is available. On the basis of these results experimentalists have suggested a variety of transition structures (Figure 10) [28, 108, 110]. 

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