Asymmetric epoxidation disubstituted £-alkenes

Chiral porphyrins are also effective in the asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes. For example, a Cj-symmetiic iron porphyrin (29) <99JA460> catalyzes the efficient epoxidation of terminal alkenes, such as 30, with very good ee s and up to 550io turnovers. Similarly, trons-disubstituted... 

In 1996, Shi made a huge development in this area, reporting the asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes using chiral dioxiranes generated in situ. The epoxidation works well for disubstituted tra s-olefins, and trisubstituted olefins using a fructose-derived ketone as a catalyst and oxone as an oxidant (Scheme 1.9) [26]. 

Ten years after Sharpless s discovery of the asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, Jacobsen and Katsuki independently reported asymmetric epoxidations of unfunctionalized olefins by use of chiral Mn-salen catalysts such as 9 (Scheme 9.3) [14, 15]. The reaction works best on (Z)-disubstituted alkenes, although several tri-and tetrasubstituted olefins have been successfully epoxidized [16]. The reaction often requires ligand optimization for each substrate for high enantioselectivity to be achieved. 

Asymmetric epoxidation of disubstituted Z-alkenes using a chiral... 

ASYMMETRIC EPOXIDATION OF DISUBSTITUTED Z-ALKENES USING A CHIRAL SALEN-MANGANESE COMPLEX111... 

ASYMMETRIC EPOXIDATION OF DISUBSTITUTED E-ALKENES USING A d-FRUCTOSE BASED CATALYST121... 

We recently reported our results on the asymmetric epoxidation of trans-disubstituted and trisubstituted alkenes, using Oxone as oxidant, catalyzed by readily available arabinose-derived 4-uloses containing tunable steric blockers that control the enantioselectivity of the epoxidation.Ulose (3), containing a 2, 3 -diisobutyl acetal unit, was the most efficient catalyst and displayed good enantioselectivity. 

The preparation is easy to reproduce and since d- and L-arabinose are commercially available in large quantities, both enantiomers of ulose (3) are readily accessible. The enantioselectivity of the asymmetric epoxidation using ulose (3) towards frawi-disubstituted and trisubstituted alkenes is shown in Table 6.4. 

The Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation works best for tram disubstituted alkenes, while the Jacobsen epoxidation works best for cis disubstituted alkenes. Even in this small area, there is a need for better and more general methods. Organic chemistry has a long way to go. 

One especially interesting kinetic resolution/asymmetric epoxidation substrate is (/ .5)-2,4-hexadien-3-ol (80). The racemic diene has eight different alkene faces at which epoxidation can occur and thereby presents an interesting challenge to the selectivity of the epoxidation catalyst. The selectivity can be tested by using slightly less than 0.5 equiv. of oxidant (because the substrate is a racemate, the maximum yield of any one product is 50%). When the reaction was run under these conditions, the only product that was formed was the (l/ ,2/ ,3/ )-epoxy alcohol (81). Three different principles of selectivity are required to achieve this result. First, the difference in rate of epoxidation by the catalyst of a disubstituted... 

The rigid, chiral salen complexes of Mn(III) shown below catalyze the asymmetric epox-idation of alkenes when treated with commercial bleach (NaOCl). This synthesis of enan-tio-enriched epoxides is particularly powerful since the method is applicable to unfunctionalized olefins. In general, (Z)-l,2-disubstituted alkenes afford higher enantioselectiv-ities than do the ( )-isomers or trisubstituted alkenes. The reaction mechanism is com-plex and proceeds via the formation of a Mn(III,IV) dinuclear species. ... 

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. 

A more recent alternative approach, developed by Jacobsen and co-workers, concerns the catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins using cheap NaOCl as oxidant in the presence of Mn complexes of chiral Schiff bases as catalysts, the so-called salene (Fig. 3-4). Values of 97% e.e. have been achieved using cis-disubstituted or trisubstituted alkenes. Equation 3-15 describes the Jacobsen epoxidation of olefins schematically. 

The diaryl prolinol/TBHP system has been found to be suitable for the asymmetric epoxidation of a variety of poorly investigated trans-disubstituted or trisubstituted electron-poor alkenes (Scheme 7.5). ... 

The highest stereoselectivities are reached with disubstituted (Z) -alkenes (with ee-values up to 99%) as well as trisubstituted alkenes, whereas mono-substituted olefins are poorer substrates. Concerning the mechanism of the Jacobsen epoxidation (see Ref. [21]), asymmetric epoxidation of non-activated olefins can be performed with numerous other transition-metal catalysts [22]. 

This catalytic system provides high enantioselectivities for a range of epoxides (Figure 19.2), including those derived from trisubstituted and traus-1,2-disubstituted alkenes, with complete stereospecificity (retention of the alkene geometry in the epoxide product) [17]. The reaction has been shown to be chem-oselective for the alkene of enynes [18], provided monoepoxides upon reaction with conjugated trans-dienes [19] and afforded up to 93% ee for the asymmetric epoxidation of fluoro-olefins [20]. However, decreased enantioselectivity was observed for both cis- and terminal alkenes. The catalytic system has also been applied to the resolution and desymmetrization of cyclic trisubstituted alkenes [21]. 

Figure 19.6 Lactam catalyst for the asymmetric epoxidation of 1,1-disubstituted terminal alkenes.

Scheme 19.6 Asymmetric epoxidation of 1,1 -disubstituted alkenes using lactam catalyst 14a.

CPO-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of (a) c/s-disubstituted alkenes and (b) functionalized c/s-2-alkenes. 

---