Chiral ligands, Sharpless asymmetric hydroxylation reactions

The Sharpless asymmetric hydroxylation can take one of two forms, the initially developed asymmetric dihydroxylation (AD)1 or the more recent variation, asymmetric aminohydroxylation (AA).2 In the case of AD, the product is a 1,2-diol, whereas in the AA reaction, a 1,2-amino alcohol is the desired product. These reactions involve the asymmetric transformation of an alkene to a vicinally functionalized alcohol mediated by osmium tetraoxide in the presence of chiral ligands (e.g., (DHQD)2-PHAL or (DHQ)2-PHAL). A mixture of these reagents (ligand, osmium, base, and oxidant) is commercially available and is sold under the name of AD-mix p or AD-mix a (vide infra). 

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