Criegee reaction

Gillet, A. The Criegee reaction and the Grignard reaction. Bull. Soc. Chim. Belg. 1937,46, 171-172. 

Criegee reaction. Oxidative cleavage of vicinal glycols by lead tetraacetate. 

Applications of tetracyanoethylene have been reviewed recent information on molecular complexes, ozonization of alkenes and alkynes (the Criegee reaction), and reactions with ketones is included. Dicyanoketene has been prepared in situ from 2,5-diazido-3,6-dicyano- and 2,6-diazido-3,5-dicyano-l,... 

Stereoselective cis-dihydroxylation of the more hindered side of cycloalkenes is achieved with silver(I) or copper(II) acetates and iodine in wet acetic acid (Woodward gly-colization J.B. Siddall, 1966 L. Mangoni, 1973 R. Criegee, 1979) or with thallium(III) acetate via organothallium intermediates (E. Glotter, 1976). In these reactions the intermediate dioxolenium cation is supposed to be opened hydrolytically, not by Sn2 reaction. 

Thallium(III) acetate reacts with alkenes to give 1,2-diol derivatives (see p. 128) while thallium(III) nitrate leads mostly to rearranged carbonyl compounds via organothallium compounds (E.C. Taylor, 1970, 1976 R.J. Ouelette, 1973 W. Rotermund, 1975 R. Criegee, 1979). Very useful reactions in complex syntheses have been those with olefins and ketones (see p. 136) containing conjugated aromatic substituents, e.g. porphyrins (G. W. Kenner, 1973 K.M. Smith, 1975). 

Ozonation ofAlkenes. The most common ozone reaction involves the cleavage of olefinic carbon—carbon double bonds. Electrophilic attack by ozone on carbon—carbon double bonds is concerted and stereospecific (54). The modified three-step Criegee mechanism involves a 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of ozone to an olefinic double bond via a transitory TT-complex (3) to form an initial unstable ozonide, a 1,2,3-trioxolane or molozonide (4), where R is hydrogen or alkyl. The molozonide rearranges via a 1,3-cycloreversion to a carbonyl fragment (5) and a peroxidic dipolar ion or zwitterion (6). 

Scheme 3. The Criegee mechanism for the osmium tetroxide mediated dihydroxylation reaction.

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. 

The molozonide was unstable and would either rearrange into the isozonide or form polymers. While Staudinger s theory explained the formation of the major products, some of the by-products could not be accounted for. The greatest step toward complete elucidation of the ozonolysis reaction was made by Criegee (Ref 3) In the 1950s. From a study of ozonolysis in various solvents and the constitution of the products, Criegee proposed these reactions ... 

The ozonolysis of ethylene in the liquid phase (without a solvent) was shown to take place by the Criegee mechanism.This reaction has been used to study the structure of the intermediate 16 or 17. The compound dioxirane (21) was identified in the reaetion mixture at low temperatures and is probably in equilibrium with the biradical 17 (R = H). Dioxirane has been produced in solution but it oxidatively cleaves dialky] ethers (such as Et—O—Et) via a chain radical process, so the choice of solvent is important. 

Ozonolysis in the gas phase is not generally carried out in the laboratory. However, the reaction is important because it takes place in the atmosphere and contributes to air pollution. There is much evidence that the Criegee mechanism operates in the gas phase too, though the products are more complex beeause of other reactions that also take plaee. ... 

There have been numerous theoretical and experimental efforts to explain the mechanism by which ozone reacts with double bonds of unsaturated substances (11,12,35). Perhaps the more widely accepted reaction is the Criegee mechanism which produces the two groups A and B (as shown below) ( 36-42) ... 

More than sixty years ago, Criegee reported that the dihydroxylation of olefins by osmium tetroxide was accelerated by the addition of a tertiary amine.165 166 Later, this discovery prompted the study of asymmetric dihydroxylation, because the use of an optically active tertiary amine was expected to increase the reaction rate (kc > k0) and to induce asymmetry (Scheme 41).167... 

The exact course of the periodate reaction has not yet been established. That an intermediate complex, compound, or ion is involved has been determined kinetically.28 269 261 262 283-286 The exact structure of this intermediate is still in doubt. The most universally accepted structure is a cyclic ester intermediate propounded by Criegee,27 285 analogous to his cyclic ester intermediate for another agent oxidizing 1,2-glycols, lead tetraacetate. 

It has been shown that abstraction of an a or p hydrogen from the ozonide also can occur. In fact, a-hydrogen abstraction can occur up to 2.5 times faster than Criegee fragmentation [36], As an example, the proposed mechanism for the reaction of ds-2-butene with ozone is shown in Figure 4. 

Another reaction in which an oxygen cation is plausible as an intermediate is in the ozonization of olefins. Ozonides are now known to have many structures, but the molozonide precursor of the classical" or most common ozonide is believed to have a four-membered, cyclic structure. Criegee and the author have independently proposed a mechanism in which heterolytic fission of the cyclic peroxide bond leads to an intermediate that can rearrange either to the classical ozonide or to an "abnormal ozonide 816 328... 

These are only the suggested mechanisms. Less is known about how the ozonides are decomposed, at least in case of triple bonds. The knowledge about ozonolysis at present available is largely due to the work of R.C. Criegee (in Peroxide Reaction Mechanisms, interscience, New York, 1962, p. 29.). 

The reaction mechanisms of these transition metal mediated oxidations have been the subject of several computational studies, especially in the case of osmium tetraoxide [7-10], where the controversy about the mechanism of the oxidation reaction with olefins could not be solved experimentally [11-20]. Based on the early proposal of Sharpless [12], that metallaoxetanes should be involved in alkene oxidation reactions of metal-oxo compounds like Cr02Cl2, 0s04 and Mn04" the question arose whether the reaction proceeds via a concerted [3+2] route as originally proposed by Criegee [11] or via a stepwise [2+2] process with a metallaoxetane intermediate [12] (Figure 2). 

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. 

Hydroxylation of alkenes by high-valent metal oxides occurs in two steps, firstly the formation of a metal dialkoxylate (or metallate ester) and secondly the hydrolysis of this species to a 1,2-diol and the low-valent metal hydroxide. The amine plays a role in the first step, the formation of the osmate ester, and Criegee added pyridine to 0s04 to accelerate the reaction. 

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