Dihydroxylation reaction

The carbon-carbon double bond of an alkene 8 can be cleaved oxidatively, by a dihydroxylation reaction-glycol cleavage sequence ... 

In the following sections and before we describe the synthesis of zaragozic acid A, we give a brief historical introduction to the dihydroxylation reaction, then describe the development of the Sharpless AD and some of its recent applications. 

Scheme 2. The osmium tetroxide mediated dihydroxylation reaction.

Scheme 4. Corey s synthesis of ( )-bilobalide [( )-l7], employing a stoichiometric 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. 

Scheme 7. The first enantioselective dihydroxylation reactions (developed by Sharpless).

In addition, also nonheme iron catalysts containing BPMEN 1 and TPA 2 as ligands are known to activate hydrogen peroxide for the epoxidation of olefins (Scheme 1) [20-26]. More recently, especially Que and coworkers were able to improve the catalyst productivity to nearly quantitative conversion of the alkene by using an acetonitrile/acetic acid solution [27-29]. The carboxylic acid is required to increase the efficiency of the reaction and the epoxide/diol product ratio. The competitive dihydroxylation reaction suggested the participation of different active species in these oxidations (Scheme 2). 

Subsequently, stoichiometric asymmetric aminohydroxylation was reported.78 Recently, it was found by Sharpless79 that through the combination of chloramine-T/Os04 catalyst with phthalazine ligands used in the asymmetric dihydroxylation reaction, catalytic asymmetric aminohydroxylation of olefins was realized in aqueous acetonitrile or tert-butanol (Scheme 3.3). The use of aqueous rerr-butanol is advantageous when the reaction product is not soluble. In this case, essentially pure products can be isolated by a simple filtration and the toluenesulfonamide byproduct remains in the mother liquor. A variety of olefins can be aminohydroxylated in this way (Table 3.1). The reaction is not only performed in aqueous medium but it is also not sensitive to oxygen. Electron-deficient olefins such as fumarate reacted similarly with high ee values. 

The oxidation of enol ethers and their derivatives is a useful method for the synthesis of a-hydroxy-ketones or their derivatives, which are versatile building blocks for organic synthesis. Since enol ethers and esters are types of olefin, some asymmetric epoxidation and dihydroxylation reactions have been applied to their oxidation. 

The 9-O-substituent of the DHQD or DHQ ligand strongly influences both the enantioselectivity and the rate of the dihydroxylation reaction. Thus, enantioselectivity was further improved by introducing new chiral auxiliaries like DHQD-PHN and DHQD-MEQ (DHQ-PHN and... 

Ishikawa s endgame toward of 54 is shown in Scheme 3.12. First, the allylic alcohol function was oxidized by a substrate-directed dihydroxylation reaction, as developed by Donohoue and coworkers (66 % yield) [36]. This reaction is conducted using 1 equiv each of osmium tetroxide and tetramethylethylene diamine (TMEDA) and provides a method to obtain the syn-A i hydroxylation product in the... 

The osmium-catalyzed dihydroxylation reaction, that is, the addition of osmium tetr-oxide to alkenes producing a vicinal diol, is one of the most selective and reliable of organic transformations. Work by Sharpless, Fokin, and coworkers has revealed that electron-deficient alkenes can be converted to the corresponding diols much more efficiently when the pH of the reaction medium is maintained on the acidic side [199]. One of the most useful additives in this context has proved to be citric acid (2 equivalents), which, in combination with 4-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMO) as a reoxidant for osmium(VI) and potassium osmate [K20s02(0H)4] (0.2 mol%) as a stable, non-volatile substitute for osmium tetroxide, allows the conversion of many olefinic substrates to their corresponding diols at ambient temperatures. In specific cases, such as with extremely electron-deficient alkenes (Scheme 6.96), the reaction has to be carried out under microwave irradiation at 120 °C, to produce in the illustrated case an 81% isolated yield of the pure diol [199]. 

An analysis of the processes listed in Table 37.2 shows that asymmetric hydrogenation of C=C and C=0 functions is by far the predominant transition metal-catalyzed transformation applied for industrial processes, followed by epoxida-tion and dihydroxylation reactions. On the one hand, this is due to the broad scope of catalytic hydrogenation, and on the other hand it could be attributed to... 

The asymmetric oxidation of organic compounds, especially the epoxidation, dihydroxylation, aminohydroxylation, aziridination, and related reactions have been extensively studied and found widespread applications in the asymmetric synthesis of many important compounds. Like many other asymmetric reactions discussed in other chapters of this book, oxidation systems have been developed and extended steadily over the years in order to attain high stereoselectivity. This chapter on oxidation is organized into several key topics. The first section covers the formation of epoxides from allylic alcohols or their derivatives and the corresponding ring-opening reactions of the thus formed 2,3-epoxy alcohols. The second part deals with dihydroxylation reactions, which can provide diols from olefins. The third section delineates the recently discovered aminohydroxylation of olefins. The fourth topic involves the oxidation of unfunc-tionalized olefins. The chapter ends with a discussion of the oxidation of eno-lates and asymmetric aziridination reactions. 

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. 

To give a better understanding of the scope of application for epoxidation and dihydroxylation reactions in organic synthesis, the studies by several groups on these reactions are discussed in the remainder of this section. 

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],... 

In the case of prochiral alkenes the dihydroxylation reaction creates new chiral centers in the products and the development of the asymmetric version of the reaction by Sharpless was one of the very important accomplishments of the last years. He received the Nobel Price in Chemistry 2001 for the development of catalytic oxidation reactions to alkenes. 

The key factor is the action of the metal on the peroxo group making one oxygen atom electrophilic. Whether or not the metal is bonded to the alkene in the intermediate is not known if so, this will depend strongly on the particular substrate and the catalyst. Later, in the discussion of the dihydroxylation reaction we will come back to this (section 14.3.2). In the example shown in Figure 14.2 the second product is t-butanol stemming from t-butylhydroperoxide (industrially prepared from isobutane and dioxygen). 

Reactions have been carried out adjacent to the epoxide moiety in order to examine the effects, if any, that the epoxide has on subsequent reactions with respect to the regio- and stereochemical outcome. Dihydroxylation using osmium tetraoxide and Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation reactions have been extensively studied using substrates 29 and 31. Initial studies centred on the standard dihydroxylation conditions using AT-methylmorpholine-AT-oxide and catalytic osmium tetraoxide. The diastereomeric ratios were at best 3 2 for 29 and 2 1 for 31, indicating that the epoxide unit had very little influence on the stereochemical outcome of the reaction. This observation was not unexpected, since the epoxide moiety poses minimal steric demands (Scheme 21). 

However, oxidation processes like epoxidation or dihydroxylation reactions are important transformations in solid support chemistry, because they allow the synthesis of ketones [226], aldehydes [227, 228] and even sulfoxides and sulfones [229]. 

Wordy Over the past few years, we have encountered numerous examples of water as the perfect solvent. We observed this first in osmium-catalyzed dihydroxylation reactions and also in nucleophilic ring-opening reactions of epoxides. We also observed this in cycloaddition reactions and in most oxime ether, hydrazone, and aromatic heterocycle condensation processes.Finally, we observed it in formation reactions of an amide from a primary amine and an acid chloride using aqueous Schotten-Baumann conditions. ... 

The first observation of the c/x-dihydroxylation reaction with RuO was made by Sharpless et al. in 1976, who noted that E and Z-cyclododecene were oxidised by stoich. RuO /EtOAc/-78 C to the threo and erythro diols [299]. Later RuCyaq. Na(IO )/EtOAc-CH3CN/0 C was used and reaction conditions optimised for many alkenes [300] a useful paper with good practical examples discusses the scope and limitations of the procedure (Table 3.2) [301]. Later oxidations were done with stoich. RuOyaq. acetone/-70 C [302] the same reagent converted A, and A steroids to cw-diols, ketones or acids [303], while RuO /aq. Na(10 )/acetone gave diones and acids [304]. 

Two ciT-dihydroxylation reactions of alkenes formed steps in the synthesis of the antiviral drug (-)-oseltamvir ( tamiflu ) were carried out with RuO /aq. Na(IO )/ EtOAc-CH3CN/4°C [169]. Terminal alkene groups in nucleosides were oxidised to alcohols by RuClj/aq. Na(lO )/EtOAc-CH3CN/0°C thus 3,5-di-0-benzyl-l,2-di-O-isopropylidene-3-C-vinyl-a-D-ribofuranose (1) gave the diol (2) which, on cleavage with Na(lO ) and reduction with NaBH yielded 3,5-di-0-benzyl-l,2-di-O-isopropylidene-3-C-hydroxy-methyl-a-D-ribofuranose (3) (Fig. 3.4) [170]. 

In subsequent years many chiral ligands for osmium have been developed and their good asymmetric induction in dihydroxylation reactions has been shown. All of these methods either employ stoichiometric amounts of catalyst (0s04/chiral ligand) and therefore no peroxide as oxidant or K3Fe(CN)e as co-oxidant, and therefore will not be discussed further. 

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