Asymmetric epoxidation diastereoselectivity

Since cbiral sulfur ylides racemize rapidly, they are generally prepared in situ from chiral sulfides and halides. The first example of asymmetric epoxidation was reported in 1989, using camphor-derived chiral sulfonium ylides with moderate yields and ee (< 41%) Since then, much effort has been made in tbe asymmetric epoxidation using sucb a strategy without a significant breakthrough. In one example, the reaction between benzaldehyde and benzyl bromide in the presence of one equivalent of camphor-derived sulfide 47 furnished epoxide 48 in high diastereoselectivity (trans cis = 96 4) with moderate enantioselectivity in the case of the trans isomer (56% ee). ... 

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]. 

The presence of the stereogenic centre at C(l) introduces an additional factor in the asymmetric epoxidation now, besides the enantiofacial selectivity, the diastereoselectivity must also be considered, and it is helpful to examine epoxidation of each enantiomer of the allylic alcohol separately. As shown in Fig. 10.2, epoxidation of an enantiomer proceeds normally (fast) and produces an erythro epoxy alcohol. Epoxidation of the other enantiomer proceeds at a reduced rate (slow) because the steric effects between the C(l) substituent and the catalyst. The rates of epoxidation are sufficiently significative to achieve the kinetic resolution and either the epoxy alcohol or the recovered allylic alcohol can be obtained with high enantiomeric purity [9]. 

Scheme 8 summarizes the introduction of the missing carbon atoms and the diastereoselective epoxidation of the C /C double bond using a Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation (SAE) of the allylic alcohol 64. The primary alcohol 62 was converted into the aldehyde 63 which served as the starting material for a Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons (HWE) reaction to afford an E-configured tri-substituted double bond. The next steps introduced the sulfone moiety via a Mukaiyama redox condensation and a subsequent sulfide to sulfone oxidation. The sequence toward the allylic alcohol 64 was com-... 

In 1996, Enders and coworkers reported the asymmetric epoxidation of ( )-enones 91 in the presence of stoichiometric amounts of diethylzinc and (lR,2R)-A-methylpseudo-ephedrine (120) under an oxygen atmosphere to give fraw -epoxides 92 with excellent yields (94-99%), almost complete diastereoselectivity (>98% de) and with very good enantioselectivities (61-92%) (Scheme 54) . For the same reaction Pu and coworkers utilized achiral polybinaphthyl 121 as ligand (in excess) instead of the chiral aminoalcohol. For each substrate, only one diastereomer was formed, but in most cases yields were lower than observed with the Enders system. Enders catalyst shows high asymmetric induction for alkyl-substituted enones (ee 82-92%), but for substrates bearing only aromatic substituents only modest enantioselectivity was obtained (R = R = Ph ... 

In the special case in which the substrate is already enantiomerically pure (as in entry 5), it should be clear from Figure 6A.2 that asymmetric epoxidation will be successful (with regard to diastereomeric purity) only when the choice of catalyst directs delivery of oxygen to the face of the olefin opposite that of the C-1 substituent. Such choice of catalyst is further illustrated in Scheme 6A.2, wherein the two sequential epoxidations each proceed with better than 97% diastereoselectivity. The bisepoxide is obtained in an overall yield of 80% [130c],... 

The ratio of diols 61 62 from dihydroxylation with osmium tetroxide alone is 2.8 1, whereas with (DHQD)2-PHAL the ratio is 39 1, and with (DHQ)2-PHAL the ratio is 1 1.3, which shows the cumulative effect that can be achieved by matching diastereoselectivities and also reveals that AD may not be as reliable as is asymmetric epoxidation (Chapter 6A) for attaining good results when diastereoselectivities are mismatched. 

High diastereoselectivity is found in the epoxidation of fluoroallylic alcohols with titanium(IV) isopropoxide and fert-butyl hydroperoxide337. The anomalous Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation has been used in the synthesis of L-erythro- and D-threo-sphingosines338. 

The use of ylides derived from tellurium analogues of sulfides 2a and 2b for asymmetric epoxidation has been described [68, 69]. Preliminary experiments using 15 as catalyst gave high enantio- and diastereoselectivities, but poor yield (see Scheme 10.13). 

Catalytic asymmetric epoxidation using Se-ylides has been reported [68, 70]. Cin-namaldehyde, aromatic and heteroaromatic aldehydes gave high yields and enantio selectivities, but no diastereoselectivity was observed (see Scheme 10.14). 

An intramolecular diastereoselective Refor-matsky-type aldol approach was demonstrated by Taylor et al. [47] with an Sm(II)-mediated cy-clization of the chiral bromoacetate 60, resulting in lactone 61, also an intermediate in the synthesis of Schinzer s building block 7. The alcohol oxidation state at C5 in 61 avoided retro-reaction and at the same time was used for induction, with the absolute stereochemistry originating from enzymatic resolution (Scheme II). Direct re.solution of racemic C3 alcohol was also tried with an esterase adapted by directed evolution [48]. In other, somewhat more lengthy routes to CI-C6 building blocks, Shibasaki et al. used a catalytic asymmetric aldol reaction with heterobimetallic asymmetric catalysts [49], and Kalesse et al. used a Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation [50]. 

Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation ° is an enantioselective epoxidation of an allylic alcohol with ferf-butyl hydroperoxide (f-BuOOH), titanium tetraisopropoxide [Ti(0-fPr)4] and (-b)- or (—)-diethyl tartrate [(-b)- or (—)-DET] to produce optically active epoxide from achiral allylic alcohol. The reaction is diastereoselective for a-substituted allylic alcohols. Formation of chiral epoxides is an important step in the synthesis of natural products because epoxides can be easily converted into diols and ethers. 

Alcohols can be obtained from many other classes of compounds such as alkyl halides, amines, al-kenes, epoxides and carbonyl compounds. The addition of nucleophiles to carbonyl compounds is a versatile and convenient methc for the the preparation of alcohols. Regioselective oxirane ring opening of epoxides by nucleophiles is another important route for the synthesis of alcohols. However, stereospe-cific oxirane ring formation is prerequisite to the use of epoxides in organic synthesis. The chemistry of epoxides has been extensively studied in this decade and the development of the diastereoselective oxidations of alkenic alcohols makes epoxy alcohols with definite configurations readily available. Recently developed asymmetric epoxidation of prochiral allylic alcohols allows the enantioselective synthesis of 2,3-epoxy alcohols. 

Ketone-catalyzed asymmetric and diastereoselective epoxidation of olefins by di-oxiranes generated in situ from chiral ketones and oxone (2KHS05 KH-S04 K2S04) 04ACR497. 

Walsh and co-workers have developed a one-pot method for the synthesis of hydroxyepoxides via an initial synthesis of an allylic alcohol followed by an asymmetric epoxidation <05JOC1262,05JA14668,05JA16416>. This reaction provides an improvement in overall yields over the typical kinetic resolution reaction. The method involves an initial asymmetric addition to the aldehyde followed by a diastereoselective epoxidation reaction. 

Enolisable aldehydes such as 101 or 103 do not give quite such good yields but the ees are still good and the diastereoselectivity in favour of the trans epoxides 102 and 104 is excellent. The secret of this method is the simple preparation of the reagent 96. In the next chapters you will see that superior catalytic methods are available for asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols and of m-alkenes but they are less good for the trans disubstituted alkenes that would give 97, 102, or 104. You will also see catalytic versions of sulfur ylid epoxidation. 

Two examples of such processes are shown in Scheme 1.6. One is the titanium TADDOLate-catalyzed addition of diethylzinc to myrtenal (see Section 4.3, [52] the other is the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation (see Section 8.2.2, [58,63]). In both cases, the diastereoselectivity for the reaction of the substrate with an achiral reagent is low (65-70% ds), while the catalysts have enantioselectivities of >95% with achiral substrates. In these cases of double asymmetric induction, the catalyst completely overwhelms the facial bias of the chiral substrate. 

The previous section described metal catalyzed epoxidation of allylic alcohols by alkyl hydroperoxides, and 193 was proposed as a model to predict the diastereoselectivity of these reactions,. In the cases presented, the reaction was diastereoselective but not enantioselective (sec. 1.4.F) and those epoxidation reactions generated racemic epoxides. To achieve asymmetric induction one must control both the relative orientation of the alkene relative to the peroxide and also the face of the substrate from which the electrophilic oxygen is delivered. Control of this type can be accomplished by providing a chiral ligand that will also coordinate to the metal catalyst, along with the peroxide and the alkene unit. There are two major asymmetric epoxidation reactions, one that can be applied only to allylic alcohols and is the prototype for asymmetric induction in these systems. The other is a procedure that can be applied to simple alkenes. Both procedures use a metal-catalyzed epoxidation that employs alkyl hydroperoxides, introduced in section 3.4.B.ii. 

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