Molecular sieves asymmetric epoxidation

The emergence of the powerful Sharpless asymmetric epoxida-tion (SAE) reaction in the 1980s has stimulated major advances in both academic and industrial organic synthesis.14 Through the action of an enantiomerically pure titanium/tartrate complex, a myriad of achiral and chiral allylic alcohols can be epoxidized with exceptional stereoselectivities (see Chapter 19 for a more detailed discussion). Interest in the SAE as a tool for industrial organic synthesis grew substantially after Sharpless et al. discovered that the asymmetric epoxidation process can be conducted with catalytic amounts of the enantiomerically pure titanium/tartrate complex simply by adding molecular sieves to the epoxidation reaction mix-... 

Allylic alcohols can be converted to epoxy-alcohols with tert-butylhydroperoxide on molecular sieves, or with peroxy acids. Epoxidation of allylic alcohols can also be done with high enantioselectivity. In the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation,allylic alcohols are converted to optically active epoxides in better than 90% ee, by treatment with r-BuOOH, titanium tetraisopropoxide and optically active diethyl tartrate. The Ti(OCHMe2)4 and diethyl tartrate can be present in catalytic amounts (15-lOmol %) if molecular sieves are present. Polymer-supported catalysts have also been reported. Since both (-t-) and ( —) diethyl tartrate are readily available, and the reaction is stereospecific, either enantiomer of the product can be prepared. The method has been successful for a wide range of primary allylic alcohols, where the double bond is mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted. This procedure, in which an optically active catalyst is used to induce asymmetry, has proved to be one of the most important methods of asymmetric synthesis, and has been used to prepare a large number of optically active natural products and other compounds. The mechanism of the Sharpless epoxidation is believed to involve attack on the substrate by a compound formed from the titanium alkoxide and the diethyl tartrate to produce a complex that also contains the substrate and the r-BuOOH. ... 

Sharpless and co-workers have shown how, with a catalyst developed by Sharpless, the rate and selectivity in a,symmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols can be improved substantially by using molecular sieve 3 A / 4 A (Gao et al., 1987). In some ca.ses, the use of molecular sieves has allowed asymmetric epoxidation, which was not possible with the original catalyst. 

Catalytic asymmetric epaxidation (13, 51-53). Complete experimental details are available for this reaction, carried out in the presence of heat-activated crushed 3A or powdered 4A molecular sieves. A further improvement, both in the rate and enantioselectivity, is use of anhydrous oxidant in isoctane rather than in CH2C12. The titanium-tartrate catalyst is not stable at 25°, and should be prepared prior to use at -20°. Either the oxidant or the substrate is then added and the mixture of three components should be allowed to stand at this temperature for 20-30 min. before addition of the fourth component. This aging period is essential for high enantioselectivity. Epoxidations with 5-10 mole % of Ti(0-/-Pr)4 and 6-12% of the tartrate generally proceed in high conversion and high enantioselectivity (90-95% ee). Some increase in the amount of catalyst can increase the enantioselectivity by 1-5%, but can complicate workup and lower the yield. Increase of Ti(0-i-Pr)4 to 50-100 mole % can even lower the enantioselectivity. 

Asymmetric trishomoallylic epoxidation.1 The 6,7-double bond of 1 is epox-idized stereoselectively to afford 2 with trityl hydroperoxide catalyzed by (-)-diethyl tartrate and Ti(0-i-Pr)4 in the presence of molecular sieves. (-Butyl hydroperoxide is not useful in this case. The product was used for an enantioselective... 

The full paper on titanium-catalysed asymmetric epoxidation appeared in 1987 [6], once the improved catalytic procedure in the presence of molecular sieves had already been fully developed [5]. On the other hand, excellent "autobiographic" accounts have also been published in which "Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the Discovery of Asymmetric Epoxidation" is honestly and vividly exposed by K. Barry Sharpless [4] [7]. 

In 1980, Katsuki and Sharpless described the first really efficient asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols with very high enantioselectivities (ee 90-95%), employing a combination of Ti(OPr-/)4-diethyl tartrate (DET) as chiral catalyst and TBHP as oxidant Stoichiometric conditions were originally described for this system, however the addition of molecular sieves (which trap water traces) to the reaction allows the epoxidation to proceed under catalytic conditions. The stereochemical course of the reaction may be predicted by the empirical rule shown in equations 40 and 41. With (—)-DET, the oxidant approaches the allylic alcohol from the top side of the plane, whereas the bottom side is open for the (-l-)-DET based reagent, giving rise to the opposite optically active epoxide. Various aspects of this reaction including the mechanism, theoretical investigations and synthetic applications of the epoxy alcohol products have been reviewed and details may be found in the specific literature . 

The Sharpless epoxidation is sensitive to preexisting chirality in selected substrate positions, so epoxidation in the absence or presence of molecular sieves allows easy kinetic resolution of open-chain, flexible allylic alcohols (Scheme 26) (52, 61). The relative rates, kf/ks, range from 16 to 700. The lower side-chain units of prostaglandins can be prepared in high ee and in reasonable yields (62). A doubly allylic alcohol with a meso structure can be converted to highly enantiomerically pure monoepoxy alcohol by using double asymmetric induction in the kinetic resolution (Scheme 26) (63). A mathematical model has been proposed to estimate the degree of the selectivity enhancement. 

Titanium-pillared montmorillonite may be used as a heterogeneous catalyst for the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols (Scheme 20) (46). The enantiomeric purities of the epoxy products are comparable with those achieved using homogeneous Ti isopropoxide with molecular sieves as water scavengers (Chapter 4). Since basal spacing of the recovered catalyst after the reaction is unaltered, the catalyst can be recycled. 

Catalytic asymmetric epoxidation.1 Addition of heat-activated, powdered 3-5 A molecular sieves to the asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols increases the rate and, more importantly, permits use of catalytic amounts of titanium reagent and the tartrate ester. However, it is still important to use at least a 10% excess of the tartrate ester over Ti(0-i-Pr)4 a 20% excess is usually advisable. In general, 5% of Ti(0-i-Pr)4 and 7.5% of the tartrate ester is used for the catalytic epoxidation. 

An important improvement in the asymmetric epoxidation process is the finding, reported in 1986, that by adding molecular sieves to the reaction medium virtually all reactions can be performed with a catalytic amount (5-10 mol %) of the Ti-tartrate complex [3]. Previously, only a few structural classes of allylic alcohols were efficiently epoxidized by less than stoichiometric amounts of the complex, and most reactions were routinely performed with stoichiometric quantities of the reagent. 

The second stoichiometry consideration is the ratio of catalyst to substrate. As noted in the preceding section, virtually all asymmetric epoxidations can be performed with a catalytic amount of Ti-tartrate complex if molecular sieves are added to the reaction milieu. A study of catalyst/substrate ratios in the epoxidation of cinnamyl alcohol revealed a significant loss in enantioselectivity (Table 6A.2) below the level of 5 mol % catalyst. At this catalyst level, the reaction rate also decreases, with the consequence that incomplete epoxidation of the substrate may occur. Presendy, the recommended catalyst stoichiometry is from 5% Ti and 6% tartrate ester to 10% Ti and 12% tartrate ester [4],... 

The addition of activated molecular sieves (zeolites) to the asymmetric epoxidation milieu has the beneficial effect of permitting virtually all reactions to be earned out with only 5-10 mol % of the Ti-tartrate catalyst [3,4]. Without molecular sieves, only a few of the more reactive allylic alcohols are epoxidized efficiently with less than an equivalent of the catalyst. The role of the molecular sieves is thought to be protection of the catalyst from (a) adventitious water and (b) water that may be generated in small amounts by side reactions during the epoxidation process. 

Before 1986, asymmetric epoxidations frequently were performed by using a stoichiometric amount of the Ti-tartrate catalyst relative to the amount of allylic alcohol. This technique was necessary to obtain a reasonable reaction rate for the epoxidation as well as to drive the reaction to completion. The report in 1986 recommending the addition of activated molecular sieves to the reaction milieu makes it possible to use only catalytic amounts of the Ti-tartrate complex for nearly all asymmetric epoxidations. 

Catalytic reactions in Sharpless epoxidation were achieved in 1986 by addition of molecular sieves, which suppress the formation of nonenantioselective complexes by moisture already present in the medium or produced during the reaction [33]. Similar problems needed to be solved in the asymmetric oxidation of sulfides because a decrease in the concentration of a... 

Chiral epoxides are important intermediates in organic synthesis. A benchmark classic in the area of asymmetric catalytic oxidation is the Sharpless epoxidation of allylic alcohols in which a complex of titanium and tartrate salt is the active catalyst [273]. Its success is due to its ease of execution and the ready availability of reagents. A wide variety of primary allylic alcohols are epoxidized in >90% optical yield and 70-90% chemical yield using tert-butyl hydroperoxide as the oxygen donor and titanium-isopropoxide-diethyltartrate (DET) as the catalyst (Fig. 4.97). In order for this reaction to be catalytic, the exclusion of water is absolutely essential. This is achieved by adding 3 A or 4 A molecular sieves. The catalytic cycle is identical to that for titanium epoxidations discussed above (see Fig. 4.20) and the actual catalytic species is believed to be a 2 2 titanium(IV) tartrate dimer (see Fig. 4.98). The key step is the preferential transfer of oxygen from a coordinated alkylperoxo moiety to one enantioface of a coordinated allylic alcohol. For further information the reader is referred to the many reviews that have been written on this reaction [274, 275]. 

---