Dialkyl tartrate

The first practical method for asymmetric epoxidation of primary and secondary allylic alcohols was developed by K.B. Sharpless in 1980 (T. Katsuki, 1980 K.B. Sharpless, 1983 A, B, 1986 see also D. Hoppe, 1982). Tartaric esters, e.g., DET and DIPT" ( = diethyl and diisopropyl ( + )- or (— )-tartrates), are applied as chiral auxiliaries, titanium tetrakis(2-pro-panolate) as a catalyst and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (= TBHP, Bu OOH) as the oxidant. If the reaction mixture is kept absolutely dry, catalytic amounts of the dialkyl tartrate-titanium(IV) complex are suflicient, which largely facilitates work-up procedures (Y. Gao, 1987). Depending on the tartrate enantiomer used, either one of the 2,3-epoxy alcohols may be obtained with high enantioselectivity. The titanium probably binds to the diol grouping of one tartrate molecule and to the hydroxy groups of the bulky hydroperoxide and of the allylic alcohol... 

The asymmetric epoxidation of an allylic alcohol 1 to yield a 2,3-epoxy alcohol 2 with high enantiomeric excess, has been developed by Sharpless and Katsuki. This enantioselective reaction is carried out in the presence of tetraisopropoxyti-tanium and an enantiomerically pure dialkyl tartrate—e.g. (-1-)- or (-)-diethyl tartrate (DET)—using tcrt-butyl hydroperoxide as the oxidizing agent. 

From a stereochemical point of view, compound 35 is rather complex, for it possesses four contiguous oxygen-bearing stereocenters. Nonetheless, compound 35 is amenable to a very productive retro-synthetic maneuver. Indeed, removal of the epoxide oxygen from 35 furnishes trans allylic alcohol 36 as a potential precursor. In the synthetic direction, SAE of 36 with the (+)-dialkyl tartrate ligand would be expected to afford epoxy alcohol 35, thus introducing two of the four contiguous stereocenters in one step. 

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. 

The scope of metal-mediated asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols was remarkably enhanced by a new titanium system introduced by Katsuki and Sharpless epoxidation of allylic alcohols using a titanium(IV) isopropoxide, dialkyl tartrate (DAT), and TBHP (TBHP = tert-butyl-hydroperoxide) proceeds with high enantioselectivity and good chemical yield, regardless of... 

The use of alkylhydroperoxides as epoxidizing agents for allylic alcohols under catalytic conditions was soon expanded into enantioselective epoxidation with use of the more mild titanium alkoxides in the presence of chiral tartaric esters116. As concerns the epoxidation of functionalized dienes, these now so-called Sharpless conditions [Ti(OPr )4, dialkyl tartrate, TBHP] have been utilized to enantioselectively epoxidize 1,4-pentadiene-... 

Attempted reaction of 1,3-pentadiene with the optically active diboron derived from dialkyl tartrate in the presence of a phosphine-free platinum catalyst gave poor diastereoselectivity (20% de).63 Better selectivity has been attained with a modified platinum catalyst bearing a PCy3 ligand (Scheme 6).64 The reaction of allylborane thus obtained with an aldehyde followed by oxidation with basic hydrogen peroxide affords the corresponding diol derivative with moderate ee. 

Since its discovery in 1980,7 the Sharpless expoxidation of allylic alcohols has become a benchmark classic method in asymmetric synthesis. A wide variety of primary allylic alcohols have been epoxidized with over 90% optical yield and 70-90% chemical yield using TBHP (r-BuOOH) as the oxygen donor and titanium isopropoxide-diethyl tartrate (DET, the most frequently used dialkyl tartrate) as the catalyst. One factor that simplifies the standard epoxidation reaction is that the active chiral catalyst is generated in situ, which means that the pre-preparation of the active catalyst is not required. 

Poly(octamethylene tartrate) can be used directly in place of dialkyl tartrates in the Sharpless epoxidation of allylic alcohols. 

Use of poly(octamethylene tartrate) in place of dialkyl tartrates offers practical utility since the branched polymers yield hetereogeneous Ti complex catalysts which can be removed by filtration. Overall the work-up procedure is considerably simplified relative to the conventional Sharpless system. In addition, significant induction is shown in the epoxidation of (Z)-allylic alcohols[7] and even with homoallylic[8] species where the dialkyltartrates give very poor results Figure 5.3. Table 5.2 is illustrative of the scope using the polymer ligand. 

Butyl hydroperoxide-Dialkyl tartrate-Titanium(IV) isopropoxide 61... 

Asymmetric Epoxidation. Asymmetric epoxidation of nonfunctionalized alkenes manifests a great synthetic challenge. The most successful method of asymmetric epoxidation, developed by Katsuki and Sharpless,332 employs a Ti(IV) alkoxide [usually Ti(OisoPr)4], an optically active dialkyl tartrate, and tert-BuOOH. This procedure, however, was designed to convert allylic alcohols to epoxy alcohols, and the hydroxyl group plays a decisive role in attaining high degree of enantiofa-cial selectivity.333,334 Without such function, the asymmetric epoxidation of simple olefins has been only moderately successful 335... 

Asymmetric induction in the cyclopropanations of unsaturated substrates with methylene has been extensively investigated. A propensity of the Simmons-Simth and related reagents to make coordination to basic atoms is most frequently exploited. Treatment of a,/J-unsaturated aldehyde acetals derived from the aldehydes and chiral dialkyl tartrates or 2,4-pentanediol, with diiodomethane/diethylzinc in hexane, produces cyclopro-panecarboxaldehyde acetals with high diastereoselectivity (equation 69)109 110. Uniformly good diastereoselectivity has also been realized in the cyclopropanations of chiral acetals... 

By cyclization reactions Camphor- 10-sulfonic acid, 62 Diethoxy triphenylphosphorane, 109 Diisobutylaluminum hydride, 115 B-3-Pinanyl-9-borabicyclo[3.3.1]-nonane, 249 Sodium nitrite, 282 a,(3-Epoxy alcohols I-Butyl hydroperoxide-Dialkyl tartrate-Titanium(IV) isopropoxide, 51 I-Butyl hydroperoxide-Dibutyltin oxide, 53... 

Me3SiN3, cat Ti(0-i-Pr)4, cat chiral diols or amino alcohols (enantioselective) Me3SiN3, cat TiQ2(0-i-Pr)2-dialkyl tartrate (enantioselective)... 

Of fundamental importance to an understanding of the reaction and its mechanism is the fact that in solution there is rapid exchange of Ti ligands [6,135,136]. Thus, when equimolar solutions of a Ti alkoxide and a dialkyl tartrate are mixed, the equilibrium represented by Eq. 6A.4 will be quickly reached with all but the most sterically demanding alkoxides. 

Miutyl hydroperoxide-Dialkyl tartrate-Titanium (IV) isopropoxide... 

---