Catalysis asymmetric alkene dihydroxylation

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],... 

About a decade after the discovery of the asymmetric epoxidation described in Chapter 14.2, another exciting discovery was reported from the laboratories of Sharpless, namely the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes using osmium tetroxide. Osmium tetroxide in water by itself will slowly convert alkenes into 1,2-diols, but as discovered by Criegee [15] and pointed out by Sharpless, an amine ligand accelerates the reaction (Ligand-Accelerated Catalysis [16]), and if the amine is chiral an enantioselectivity may be brought about. 

Unlike the impressive progress that has been reported with asymmetric catalysis in other additions to alkenes (i.e., the Diels-Alder cycloaddition, epoxidation, dihydroxylation, aminohydroxylation, and hydrogenation) so far this is terra incognita with nitrile oxide cycloadditions. It is easy to predict that this will become a major topic in the years to come. 

With cis-vic-aminohydroxylations of unsymmetrical alkenes, however, it may be a problem that two regioisomers occur—a complication that does not occur with cis-vic-dihydroxylations. The addition of (DHQ)2-PHAL or (DHQD)2-PHAL (Figure 17.21, part I) in a cis-vic-aminohydroxylation will also cause asymmetric catalysis. The related reactions are known as asymmetric aminohydroxylations. 

R. Noyori shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2001 with W. S. Knowles, who pioneered the use of Rh-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation, and K. B. Sharpless, who is known for fundamental work on asymmetric epoxidation and dihydroxylation of alkenes involving transition metal catalysis. 

One of the most exciting developments in asymmetric catalysis over the past 25 years has been the discovery of transition metal complexes that catalyze the oxidation of alkenes to chiral epoxides and 1,2-diols. Equations 12.16, 12.17, and 12.18 show examples of epoxidation and 1,2-dihydroxylation. 

The asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes (the AD reaction) using osmium catalysts was discovered and developed by Sharpless, and now represents one of the most impressive achievements of asymmetric catalysis. The majority of early results did not use catalytic systems however, a breakthrough in the catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation reaction was reported by Sharpless and coworkers in 1988. 

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