Chiral titanium complex, oxidation

Oxidation of the enantiotopic electron pairs at sulfur, mediated by chiral titanium complexes, to yield chiral sulfoxides with high enantiomeric excess14. 

The Orsay group found serendipitously that methyl p-tolyl sulfide was oxidized to methyl p-toly 1 sulfoxide with high enantiomeric purity (80-90% ee) when the Sharpless reagent was modified by addition of 1 mole equiv. of water [16,17]. The story of this discovery was described in a review [19], Sharpless conditions gave racemic sulfoxide and sulfone. Careful optimization of the stoichiometry of the titanium complex in the oxidation of p-tolyl sulfide led to the selection of Ti(0iPr)4/(7 ,7 )-DET/H20 (1 2 1) combination as the standard system [ 17]. In the beginning of their investigations, the standard conditions implied a stoichiometric amount of the chiral titanium complex with respect to the prochiral sulfide [16,17,20-23]. Later, proper conditions were found, which decreased the amount of the titanium complex without too much alteration of the enantioselectivity [24,25],... 

Uemura reported a highly enantioselective oxidation of sulfides to sulfoxides using a chiral titanium complex prepared from chiral BINOL and Ti(0-i-Pr)4, and this reaction exhibits a remarkable asymmetric amplification (Scheme 9.15) [33]. 

Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, asymmetric epoxidation of conjugated ketones, asymmetric sulfoxidations catalyzed, or mediated, by chiral titanium complexes, and allylic oxidations are the main classes of oxidation where asymmetric amplification effects have been discovered. The various references are listed in Table 4 with the maximum amplification index observed. 

Oxidation in the presence of chiral titanium tartrate (modified Sharpless method). Inspired by the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation48 of allylic alcohols with hydroperoxides in the presence of chiral titanium complex [diethyl tartrate (DET) and Ti(0-i-Pr)4], Kagan and co-workers46 and Modena and co-workers47 developed almost at the same time two variations of this reaction leading to o.p. sulfoxides with high enantiomeric purity. 

Chiral titanium complexes are also employed as effective asymmetric catalysts for other carbon-carbon bond-forming reactions, for example addition of diketene (Sch. 66) [154c,162], Friedel-Crafts reaction (Sch. 67) [163] (Sch. 68) [164], iodocar-bocyclization (Sch. 69) [165], Torgov cyclization (Sch. 70) [166], and [2 -i- 1] cycloaddition (Sch. 71) [167]. Asymmetric functional group transformations can also be catalyzed by chiral titanium complexes. These transformations, for example the Sharpless oxidation [168] or hydride reduction [169] are, however, beyond the scope of this review because of space limitations. Representative results are, therefore, covered by the reference list. 

Depending on the enzyme used for oxidation of organic sulfides, sulfoxides with S- or R-configuration can be obtained with high ee, whereas at present there is only one chemical oxidation method which leads to high ee in alkyl aryl sulfoxides. This method uses chiral titanium complexes and cumene hydroperoxide for the oxidation of organic sulfides[26]. 

KAGAN-MODENA Asymmetric Oxidation Asymmetric oxidation of sulfides to chiral sulfoxides by chiral titanium complexes and hydroperoxide. 

Scheme 8.27. (a) An example of the Andersen synthesis of chiral sulfoxides [119]. (b) Catalytic oxidation of an aromatic sulfide using a chiral titanium complex [118]. fc) Synthesis of a C2-symmetrical fra s-l,3-dithiane-l,3-dioxide and its use as an asymmetric acyl anion equivalent [120,121]. 

The asymmetric oxidation of sulfides represents a straightforward access to chiral sulfoxides that are useful compounds for asymmetric synthesis as chiral auxiliaries and also for the synthesis of biologically active molecules. Among the different methods to perform these reactions, titanium-mediated thioether oxidation is one of the most attractive. Indeed, Kagan ° and Modena independently showed that the use of chiral titanium complexes derived from Sharpless reagent allows the asymmetric oxidation of prochiral sulfides (Scheme 7.6). 

The Sharpless epoxidation of allylic alcohols by hydroperoxides uses as mediator [45] or as catalyst [46] a chiral titanium complex obtained from the combination Ti(OPr )4/diethyl tartrate (DET) in 1 1 ratio. Kinetic resolution of P-hydroxysulfides was also observed, but without diastereoselectivity for the product P-hydroxysulfoxides [47]. We found that the Sharpless reagent deactivated by 1 equivalent of water allows the enantioselective oxidation of aryl methyl sulfides into sulfoxides to be performed with ee s up to 90% [4S-50]. The best reagent combination proved to be Ti(0Pr )4/DET/H20 = 1 2 1. Independently, Modena et al. obtained similar enantioselectivities with the combination Ti(OPr )4/DET in 1 4 ratio [51]. These two combinations are sometimes referred to as the Kagan reagent and the Modena reagent, respectively. They will be considered successively. 

An enantioselective route to 1,3-dithiane 1-oxide (33) (R = R = H) was subsequently developed [69]. It involves asymmetric oxidation of (32) (R = pivaloyl, R = H) by cumene hydroperoxide in presence of the chiral titanium complex. The syn/anti mixture (around 90% ee for each diastereoisomer) is recrystallized and then deacylated, giving the desired product in 80% yield. A recent application of this chemistry is the asymmetric synthesis of enantiopure (R)-(-)-2,6-dimethylheptanoic acid in two steps from (33) (R = C(0)Et, R = Et) [70]. The reaction involves a fully stereoselective methylation in the a-position of the keto group, followed by basic deacylation, which also regenerates enantiopure 2-ethyl-l,3-dithiane 1-oxide (33) (Ri = H, R = Et). A range of a-arylpropanoic acids have since been prepared by similar routes in high ee s. [162]... 

Zhao, S., Samuel, O. and Ka an, H. B. (1987) Asymmetric oxidation of sulfides mediated by chiral titanium complexes mechanistic and synthetic aspects. Tetrahedron 43,5135-5144. 

Most applications of sulfide oxidations by alkyl hydroperoxides have involved titanium catalysis together with chiral ligands for enantioselective transformations. The groups of Kagan in Orsay [61] and Modena in Padova [62] reported independently on the use of chiral titanium complexes for the asymmetric sulfoxidation by the use of BuOOH as the oxidant. A modification of the Sharpless reagent with the use of Ti(0 Pr)4 and (J ,J )-diethyl tartrate (J ,J )-DET) afforded chiral sulfoxides with up to 90% ee (Eq. (8.17)). 

A new catalytic procedure for the asymmetric oxidation of aryl alkyl and aryl benzyl sulfides to optically active sulfoxides by TBHP is mediated by a chiral titanium complex formed in situ by reacting Ti( -PrO)4, (R, / )-diphenylethane-l,2-diol, and water. The results were largely unaffected by the nature of the phenyl substituents, suggesting that the same mechanism operates in all cases. Only the / -N02 substituent on the aryl ring caused a considerable loss of enantioselectivity and this is attributed to the electron-withdrawing power of this group or, more likely, its coordinating ability. ... 

Asymmetric epoxidation is another important area of activity, initially pioneered by Sharpless, using catalysts based on titanium tetraisoprop-oxide and either (+) or (—) dialkyl tartrate. The enantiomer formed depends on the tartrate used. Whilst this process has been widely used for the synthesis of complex carbohydrates it is limited to allylic alcohols, the hydroxyl group bonding the substrate to the catalyst. Jacobson catalysts (Formula 4.3) based on manganese complexes with chiral Shiff bases have been shown to be efficient in epoxidation of a wide range of alkenes. 

We reported a catalytic enantioselective cyanosUylation of ketones that produces chiral tetrasubstituted carbons from a wide range of substrate ketones [Eq. (13.31)]. The catalyst is a titanium complex of a D-glucose-derived ligand 47. It was proposed that the reaction proceeds through a dual activation of substrate ketone by the titanium and TMSCN by the phosphine oxide (51), thus producing (l )-ketone cyanohydrins ... 

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