Asymmetric Dihydroxylation Catalysts

The discovery of iron complexes that can catalyze olefin czs-dihydroxylation led Que and coworkers to explore the possibility of developing asymmetric dihydroxylation catalysts. Toward this end, the optically active variants of complexes 11 [(1R,2R)-BPMCN] and 14 [(1S,2S)- and (lP-2P)-6-Me2BPMCN] were synthesized [35]. In the oxidation of frans-2-heptene under conditions of limiting oxidant, 1R,2R-11 was foimd to catalyze the formation of only a minimal amount of diol with a slight enantiomeric excess (ee) of 29%. However, 1P-2P-14 and 1S,2S-14 favored the formation of diol (epoxide/diol = 1 3.5) with ees of 80%. These first examples of iron-catalyzed asymmetric ds-dihydroxylation demonstrate the possibility of developing iron-based asymmetric catalysts that may be used as alternatives to currently used osmium-based chemistry [45]. 

Subsequently, stoichiometric asymmetric aminohydroxylation was reported.78 Recently, it was found by Sharpless79 that through the combination of chloramine-T/Os04 catalyst with phthalazine ligands used in the asymmetric dihydroxylation reaction, catalytic asymmetric aminohydroxylation of olefins was realized in aqueous acetonitrile or tert-butanol (Scheme 3.3). The use of aqueous rerr-butanol is advantageous when the reaction product is not soluble. In this case, essentially pure products can be isolated by a simple filtration and the toluenesulfonamide byproduct remains in the mother liquor. A variety of olefins can be aminohydroxylated in this way (Table 3.1). The reaction is not only performed in aqueous medium but it is also not sensitive to oxygen. Electron-deficient olefins such as fumarate reacted similarly with high ee values. 

Figand acceleration (the so-called Criegee effect) is the important feature of asymmetric dihydroxylation using cinchona ligands.193 In particular, bis-cinchona ligands provide remarkable acceleration (Scheme 48). This enables high turnover rates of the osmium catalysts. 

Corey et al.66 have developed a bidentate chiral ligand 93 for asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins. As shown in Table 4-13, asymmetric dihydroxylation of a series of olefins using 93 as a chiral catalyst and OsCU as the oxidant gives good to excellent yield as well as good enantioselectivity in most cases. 

Chiral compounds 91a and 91b, as shown in Table 4-15, were first reported by Jacobsen et al.55 for the asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins. These catalysts can be used for asymmetric dihydroxlation of a variety of substrates. 

Wang et al.36 have used the chiral catalyst (DHQ)2 PHAL (see Chapter 4 for the structure) for the asymmetric synthesis of the taxol side chain. Optically enriched diol was obtained at 99% ee via asymmetric dihydroxylation. Sub-... 

These cinchona esters also effect asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes in reactions with an amine N-oxide as the stoichiometric oxidant and 0s04 as the catalyst. Reactions catalyzed by 1 direct attack to the re-face and those catalyzed by 2 direct attack with almost equal preference for the 5i-face. 

A more versatile method to use organic polymers in enantioselective catalysis is to employ these as catalytic supports for chiral ligands. This approach has been primarily applied in reactions as asymmetric hydrogenation of prochiral alkenes, asymmetric reduction of ketone and 1,2-additions to carbonyl groups. Later work has included additional studies dealing with Lewis acid-catalyzed Diels-Alder reactions, asymmetric epoxidation, and asymmetric dihydroxylation reactions. Enantioselective catalysis using polymer-supported catalysts is covered rather recently in a review by Bergbreiter [257],... 

Sharpless stoichiometric asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes (AD) was converted into a catalytic reaction several years later when it was combined with the procedure of Upjohn involving reoxidation of the metal catalyst with the use of N-oxides [24] (N-methylmorpholine N-oxide). Reported turnover numbers were in the order of 200 (but can be raised to 50,000) and the e.e. for /rara-stilbene exceeded 95% (after isolation 88%). When dihydriquinidine (vide infra) was used the opposite enantiomer was obtained, again showing that quinine and quinidine react like a pair of enantiomers, rather than diastereomers. 

Scheme 4.13 Solid-phase attached catalysts for the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes.

Janda, Bolm and Zhang generated soluble polymer-bound catalysts for the asymmetric dihydroxylation by attaching cinchona alkaloid derivatives to polyethylene glycol monomethyl ether (MeO-PEG) [84—87]. Since these polymeric catalysts like (24) are soluble in many common solvents they are often as effective as their small homogenous counterparts. Janda et al. prepared catalyst (24) in which two dihydroquinidine (DHQD) units were linked together by phthalazine and finally were attached to MeO-PEG via one of the bicyclic ring system moieties (Scheme... 

Other functionalized supports that are able to serve in the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes were reported by the groups of Sharpless (catalyst 25) [88], Sal-vadori (catalyst 26) [89-91] and Cmdden (catalyst 27) (Scheme 4.13) [92]. Commonly, the oxidations were carried out using K3Fe(CN)g as secondary oxidant in acetone/water or tert-butyl alcohol/water as solvents. For reasons of comparison, the dihydroxylation of trons-stilbene is depicted in Scheme 4.13. The polymeric catalysts could be reused but had to be regenerated after each experiment by treatment with small amounts of osmium tetroxide. A systematic study on the role of the polymeric support and the influence of the alkoxy or aryloxy group in the C-9 position of the immobilized cinchona alkaloids was conducted by Salvadori and coworkers [89-91]. Co-polymerization of a dihydroquinidine phthalazine derivative with hydroxyethylmethacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate afforded a functionalized polymer (26) with better swelling properties in polar solvents and hence improved performance in the dihydroxylation process [90]. 

The highest enantioselectivity (up to >99%) yet achieved in the addition of S-nucleophiles to enones was reported in 2002 by Deng et al. [59]. By systematic screening of monomeric and dimeric cinchona alkaloid derivatives they identified the dihydroquinidine-pyrimidine conjugate (DHQD PYR (72, Scheme 4.35) as the most effective catalyst. This material is frequently used in the Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation and is commercially available. Screening of several aromatic thiols resulted in the identification of 2-thionaphthol as the nucleophile giving best yields and enantioselectivity. Examples for the (DHQD PYR-catalyzed addition of 2-thionaphthol to enones are summarized in Scheme 4.35. 

Osmium-catalysed dihydroxylation has been reviewed with emphasis on the use of new reoxidants and recycling of the catalysts.44 Various aspects of asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes by osmium complexes, including the mechanism, acceleration by chiral ligands 45 and development of novel asymmetric dihydroxylation processes,46 has been reviewed. Two reviews on the recent developments in osmium-catalysed asymmetric aminohydroxylation of alkenes have appeared. Factors responsible for chemo-, enantio- and regio-selectivities have been discussed.47,48 Osmium tetraoxide oxidizes unactivated alkanes in aqueous base. Isobutane is oxidized to r-butyl alcohol, cyclohexane to a mixture of adipate and succinate, toluene to benzoate, and both ethane and propane to acetate in low yields. The data are consistent with a concerted 3 + 2 mechanism, analogous to that proposed for alkane oxidation by Ru04, and for alkene oxidations by 0s04.49... 

Catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation (14, 237-239 15, 240-241). Complete details are now available for this reaction with a solid substrate, ftms-stilbene, in acetone/water (3 1, v/v) with dihydroquinidine 4-chlorobenzoate as catalyst.1 4... 

Asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes (14, 235-239). Further study1 of this reaction reveals that the optical yields of products can be markedly improved by slow addition (5-26 hours) of the alkene to the catalyst in acetone-water at 0° with stirring. The enantioselectivity can also be increased by addition of tetraethylam-monium acetate, which facilitates hydrolysis of osmate esters. The report suggests that the first product (1) of osmylation can undergo a second osmylation to provide 2, with reverse enantioselectivity of the first osmylation. 

The first heterogeneous osmium catalyst applicable for asymmetric dihydroxylation reactions was described by Kobayashi and coworkers (Table 9, entry 1) [38, 39]. Osmium tetroxide was enveloped in a polymer capsule by microencapsulation techniques [40,41]. The asymmetric dihydroxylation of transmethylstyrene with poly(acrylonitrile-co-butadiene-co-styrene) microencapsulated (ABS-MC) osmium tetroxide as catalyst, NMO as the cooxidant, and (DHQD)2PHAL as the chiral ligand completed in 88% yield with 94% ee [38]. The catalyst and the chiral ligand were reused in five consecutive runs without loss of activity. However, the use of NMO as cooxidant required the slow... 

Table 9 Comparison of the asymmetric dihydroxylation ((DHQD)2PHAL) with different heterogeneous osmium catalysts...

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