Hydroxylation allylic

Geranyl acetate (a diene) takes up 2 moles of hydrogen unselectively in 48 hours to give the saturated acetate, 3,7-dimethyloctyl acetate, bp 109-110712 mm, 1.4261. (Geraniol itself has an allylic hydroxyl and appears to suffer decarbonylation under these reaction conditions.)... 

In a different type of reaction, alkenes are photooxygenated (with singlet O2, see 14-8) in the presence of a Ti, V, or Mo complex to give epoxy alcohols formally derived from allylic hydroxylation followed by epoxidation, for example, ... 

The late stages of the synthesis (Scheme 1.17) proceeded with Wittig methylenation of ketone 144 with Ph3P=CH2 at 70 °C to furnish exocyclic alkene 145 in 77 % yield. Finally, the alcohol was installed via a Se02-mediated allylic hydroxylation [57] of the exocyclic alkene 145 to afford ( )-nominine (1) in 66 % and 7 1 dr. The structure of nominine (1) was verified via an X-ray crystal structure determination, thereby completing the racemic total synthesis of ( )-nominine (1). 

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). 

A study of the catalytic oxidation of six stereoisomers of 5-cyclohexene-l,2,3,4-tetrol revealed448 that, in all cases, an allylic hydroxyl group is selectively attacked, and a consideration of their favored conformations suggested that quasi-axial groups are selectively dehydrogenated before those that are quasi-equatorial. 

When the cyclization occurs by activation of the carbon-carbon double bound, the anomeric configuration of the product depends on the stereochemistry of attack of the electrophile to the double bound. The attack preferably occurs from the less hindered face of the most stable conformation, that in which the allylic hydroxyl group lies on the same plane of the double bond. 

FIGURE 4.47 Examples (geraniol, nerol, < -unsaturated acids, and lovastatin) of cytochrome P450 catalyzed allylic hydroxylation. 

FIGURE 4.48 Substrates (3,3,6,6-tetradeuterocyclohexene, methylenecyclohexane, and/ -pinene) used to determine the mechanism of cytochrome P450-catalyzed allylic hydroxylation. 

To explore the mechanism of allylic hydroxylation, three probe substrates, 3,3,6,6-tetradeuterocyclohexene, methylene cyclohexane, and /l-pinenc, were studied (113). Each substrate yielded a mixture of two allylic alcohols formed as a consequence of either retention or rearrangement of the double bond. The observation of a significant deuterium isotope effect (4-5) in the oxidation of 3,3,6,6-tetradeuterocyclohexene together with the formation of a mixture of un-rearranged and rearranged allylic alcohols from all three substrates is most consistent with a hydrogen abstraction-oxygen rebound mechanism (Fig. 4.48). 

Se02 has also been used to carry out allylic hydroxylation of olefines and in this connection the following points are guiding factors. 

Replacement of an allylic hydroxyl without saturation or a shift of the double bond was achieved by treatment of some allylic-type alcohols with triphenyliodophosphorane (PhjPHI), triphenyldiiodophosphorane (PhsPIj) or their mixture with triphenyl phosphine (yields 24-60%) [612]. Still another way is the treatment of an allylic alcohol with a pyridine-sulfur trioxide complex followed by reduction of the intermediate with lithium aluminum hydride in tetrahydrofuran (yields 6-98%) [67 J]. In this method saturation of the double bond has taken place in some instances [675]. 

Vinylogs of benzylic alcohols, e.g. cinnamyl alcohol, undergo easy saturation of the double bond by catalytic hydrogenation over platinum, rhodium-platinum and palladium oxides [39] or by reduction with lithium aluminum hydride [609]. In the presence of acids, catalytic hydrogenolysis of the allylic hydroxyl takes place, especially over platinum oxide in acetic acid and hydrochloric acid [39]. 

Evidence in the literature (38-40) indicates that the a,B-unsaturated keto group at C-3, the primary allylic hydroxyl at C-20, the tertiary hydroxy group at C-4, and the long-chain... 

The directive effect of allylic hydroxyl groups can be used in conjunction with chiral catalysts to achieve enantioselective cyclopropanation. The chiral ligand used is a boronate... 

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