Chirality asymmetric dihydroxylation

Another important reaction associated with the name of Sharpless is the so-called Sharpless dihydroxylation i.e. the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes upon treatment with osmium tetroxide in the presence of a cinchona alkaloid, such as dihydroquinine, dihydroquinidine or derivatives thereof, as the chiral ligand. This reaction is of wide applicability for the enantioselective dihydroxylation of alkenes, since it does not require additional functional groups in the substrate molecule ... 

The interest in asymmetric synthesis that began at the end of the 1970s did not ignore the dihydroxylation reaction. The stoichiometric osmylation had always been more reliable than the catalytic version, and it was clear that this should be the appropriate starting point. Criegee had shown that amines, pyridine in particular, accelerated the rate of the stoichiometric dihydroxylation, so it was understandable that the first attempt at nonenzymatic asymmetric dihydroxylation was to utilize a chiral, enantiomerically pure pyridine and determine if this induced asymmetry in the diol. This principle was verified by Sharpless (Scheme 7).20 The pyridine 25, derived from menthol, induced ee s of 3-18% in the dihydroxylation of /rcms-stilbene (23). Nonetheless, the ee s were too low and clearly had to be improved. 

Kinetic resolution of racemic allylic acetates has been accomplished via asymmetric dihydroxylation (p. 1051), and 2-oxoimidazolidine-4-carboxy-lates have been developed as new chiral auxiliaries for the kinetic resolution of amines. Reactions catalyzed by enzymes can be utilized for this kind of resolution. ... 

This report prompted further study of asymmetric dihydroxylation, and higher enantioselect-ivity has been realized with various C2- or quasi-C2-symmetric diamines as the chiral auxiliaries.168-174 One example reported by Tomioka and Koga is shown in Scheme 43.170 Although the reaction is highly enantioselective, it needs the use of stoichiometric 0s04 and chiral diamine, because the diamine coordinates Osvl ion strongly and retards its reoxidation to Osvm ion. 

Since Sharpless discovery of asymmetric dihydroxylation reactions of al-kenes mediated by osmium tetroxide-cinchona alkaloid complexes, continuous efforts have been made to improve the reaction. It has been accepted that the tighter binding of the ligand with osmium tetroxide will result in better stability for the complex and improved ee in the products, and a number of chiral auxiliaries have been examined in this effort. Table 4 11 (below) lists the chiral auxiliaries thus far used in asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes. In most cases, diamine auxiliaries provide moderate to good results (up to 90% ee). 

The major breakthrough in the catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation reactions of olefins was reported by Jacobsen et al.55 in 1988. Combining 9-acetoxy dihydroquinidine as the chiral auxiliary with /V-methylmorphine TV-oxide as the secondary oxidant in aqueous acetone produced optically active diols in excellent yields, along with efficient catalytic turnover. 

Corey et al.66 have developed a bidentate chiral ligand 93 for asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins. As shown in Table 4-13, asymmetric dihydroxylation of a series of olefins using 93 as a chiral catalyst and OsCU as the oxidant gives good to excellent yield as well as good enantioselectivity in most cases. 

Hirama and co-workers71 developed another chiral bidentate ligand 92 for OsCU-mediated dihydroxylation of /m .v-disubstituted and monosubstituted olefins. As shown in Table 4-14, asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins using (S,S)-(—)-92b as the chiral ligand provides excellent yield and enantioselectivity. 

Chiral compounds 91a and 91b, as shown in Table 4-15, were first reported by Jacobsen et al.55 for the asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins. These catalysts can be used for asymmetric dihydroxlation of a variety of substrates. 

Wang et al.36 have used the chiral catalyst (DHQ)2 PHAL (see Chapter 4 for the structure) for the asymmetric synthesis of the taxol side chain. Optically enriched diol was obtained at 99% ee via asymmetric dihydroxylation. Sub-... 

Also fifteen years of painstaking work and the gradual improvement of the system, the Sharpless team announced that asymmetric dihydroxylation (AD) of nearly every type of alkene can be accomplished using osmium tetraoxide, a co-oxidant such as potassium ferricyanide, the crucial chiral ligand based on a dihydroquinidine (DHQD) (21) or dihydroquinine (DHQ) (22) and metha-nesulfonamide to increase the rate of hydrolysis of intermediate osmate esters 1811. 

Asymmetric catalytic osmylation.s Chiral cinchona bases are known to effect asymmetric dihydroxylation with 0s04 as a stoichiometric reagent (10, 291). Significant but opposite stereoselectivity is shown by esters of dihydroquinine (1) and of dihydroquinidine (2), even though these bases are diastereomers rather than enantiomers. 

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. 

Excitingly, the electrochemical Os-catalyzed asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins with Sharpless s ligands yielding the chiral diol (138) via the chiral adduct (137) has been reported [184]. The asymmetric dihydroxylation of olefins (136) is performed by recycling a catalytic amount of potassium ferricyanide [K3Fe(CN)6] in the presence... 

Recently, effective chiral ligands for the enantioselective dihydroxylation of olefins have been intensively investigated. Among the reported asymmetric dihydroxylation systems, the superiority of an H20/f-Bu0H-K3Fe(CN)6/K2C03 system with chiral ligands, that is, dihydroquinidine (DHQD) and/or a dihydroquinine (DHQ) derivative, has been mentioned (see Sect. 15.2.4.7) [476]. 

Asymmetric dihydroxylation can be achieved using osmium tetroxide in conjunction with a chiral nitrogen ligand. " The very successful Sharpless procedure uses the natural cinchona alkaloids dihydroquinine (DHQ) and its diastereomer dihy-droquinidine (DHQD), as exemplified in the epoxidation of imni-stilbene... 

After the "asymmetric epoxidation" of allylic alcohols at the very beginning of the 80 s, at the end of the same decade (1988) Sharpless again surprised the chemical community with a new procedure for the "asymmetric dihydroxylation" of alkenes [30]. The procedure involves the dihydroxylation of simple alkenes with N-methylmorpholine A -oxide and catalytic amounts of osmium tetroxide in acetone-water as solvent at 0 to 4 °C, in the presence of either dihydroquinine or dihydroquinidine p-chlorobenzoate (DHQ-pClBz or DHQD-pClBz) as the chiral ligands (Scheme 10.3). 

The work by E.J. Corey [37], M. Hirama [38] and K. Tomioka [39], and their associates, on asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes with chiral diamine-osmium tetroxide complexes also deserves to be mentioned. 

---