Asymmetric oxidation, metal-catalyzed sulfoxidations

This compilation embraces a wide variety of subjects, such as solid-phase and microwave stereoselective synthesis asymmetric phase-transfer asymmetric catalysis and application of chiral auxiliaries and microreactor technology stereoselective reduction and oxidation methods stereoselective additions cyclizations metatheses and different types of rearrangements asymmetric transition-metal-catalyzed, organocatalyzed, and biocatalytic reactions methods for the formation of carbon-heteroatom and heteroatom-heteroatom bonds like asymmetric hydroamina-tion and reductive amination, carboamination and alkylative cyclization, cycloadditions with carbon-heteroatom bond formation, and stereoselective halogenations and methods for the formation of carbon-sulfur and carbon-phosphorus bonds, asymmetric sulfoxidation, and so on. 

Enantiomerically pure sulfoxides play an important role in asymmetric synthesis either as chiral building blocks or stereodirecting groups [156]. In the last years, metal- and enzyme-catalyzed asymmetric sulfoxidations have been developed for the preparation of optically active sulfoxides. Among the metal-catalyzed processes, the Kagan sulfoxidation [157] is the most efficient, in which the sulfide is enantioselectively oxidized by Ti(OzPr)4/tBuOOH in the presence of tartrate as chirality source. However, only alkyl aryl sulfides may be oxidized by this system in high enantiomeric excesses, and poor enantioselectivities were observed for dialkyl sulfides. 

Chiral sulfoxides have emerged as versatile building blocks and chiral auxiliaries in the asymmetric synthesis of pharmaceutical products. The asymmetric oxidation of prochiral sulfides with chiral metal complexes has become one of the most effective routes to obtain these chiral sulfoxides.We have recently developed a new heterogeneous catalytic system (WO3-30% H2O2) which efficiently catalyzes both the asymmetric oxidation of a variety of thioethers (1) and the kinetic resolution of racemic sulfoxides (3), when used in the presence of cinchona alkaloids such as hydroquinidine 2,5-diphenyl-4,6-pyrimidinediyl diether [(DHQD)2-PYR], Optically active sulfoxides (2) are produced in high yields and with good enantioselectivities (Figure 9.3). ... 

In the area of metal catalyzed asymmetric sulfoxidation there is still much room for improvement. The most successful examples involve titanium tartrates, but at the same time often require near stoichiometric quantities of catalysts [301, 302]. Recently, this methodology has been successfully used for the production of (S)-Omeprazole by AstraZeneca [303] (see Fig. 4.110). A modified Kagan-pro-cedure [302] was applied, using cumene hydroperoxide as the oxidant. Another example is the sulfoxidation of an aryl ethyl sulfide, which was in development by Astra Zeneca as a candidate drug for the treatment of schizophrenia. In this case the final ee could be improved from 60% to 80% by optimising the Ti tar-trate ratio [304]. 

Major interest has been expressed in the synthesis of chiral sulfoxides since the early 1980s, when it was discovered that chiral sulfoxides are efficient chiral auxiliaries that are able to bring about important asymmetric transformations [22]. Sulfoxides are also constituents of important drugs (e.g., omeprazole (Losec , Priso-lec )) [23]. There is a plethora of routes of access to enantioenriched sulfoxides, and many involve metal-catalyzed asymmetric oxidations [24]. Examples of ruthenium metal-based syntheses of sulfoxides are scarce, presumably due to the tendency of sulfur atoms to bind irreversibly to a ruthenium center. Schenk et al. reported a dia-stereoselective oxidation of Lewis acidic Ru-coordinated thioethers with dimethyl-dioxirane (DMD) (Scheme 10.16) [25[. Coordination of the prochiral thioether to the metal is followed by diastereoselective oxygen transfer from DMD in high yield. The... 

Asymmetric reactions also occur via oxo metal intermediates 101, 104). Thus, chiral poiphyrin-Fe complexes catalyze oxidation of sulfides with iodosylbenzene in the presence of 1-methylimidazole with high turnover numbers to give optically active sulfoxides in moderate ee (Scheme 45) 105). 

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