Chiral metal complexes, allylic alcohol

With chiral ligands, the transition-metal catalyst-hydroperoxide complex yields optically active oxiranes. " One of the most significant advances in the formation of chiral epoxides from allyl alcohols has recently been reported by the Sharpless group. Using (-l-)-tartaric acid, ferf-butylhydroperoxide, and titanium isopropoxide, they were able to obtain chiral epoxides in very high enantiomeric excess. The enantiomeric epoxide can be obtained by employing (—)-tartaric acid (Eq. 33a). 

In 1965, Denney et al. (98) reported the reaction of a number of alkenes with ferf-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and cupric salts of chiral acids. The use of ethyl camphorate copper complex 144 in the allylic oxidation of cyclopentene provides, upon reduction of the camphorate ester, the allylic alcohol in low yield and low selectivity, Eq. 82. The initial publication only provided the observed rotation of cyclopentenol, but comparison to subsequent literature values (99) reveals that this reaction proceeds in 12% ee and 43% yield (based on the metal complex). 

The chiral ligand (44) was prepared starting from the cyclic a-amino acid (S)-proline80). Recently, similar chiral catalysts and related molybdenum complexes involving optically active N-alkyl-P-aminoalcohols as stable chiral ligands and acetylacetone as a replaceable bidentate ligand, were designed for the epoxidation of allylic alcohols with alkyl hydroperoxides which could be catalyzed by such metal complexes 8,). 

The Simmons-Smith reaction is an efficient and powerful method for synthesizing cyclopropanes from alkenes [43]. Allylic alcohols are reactive and widely used as substrates, whereas a,j8-unsaturated carbonyl compounds are unreactive. In 1988, Ambler and Davies [44] reported the electrophilic addition of methylene to a,/3-unsaturated acyl ligands attached to the chiral-at-metal iron complex. The reaction of the racemic iron complex 60 with diethylzinc and diiodomethane in the presence of ZnCl2 afforded the c/s-cyclopropane derivatives 61a and 61b in 93 % yield in 24 1 ratio (Sch. 24). 

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