1.2-diols. preparation from alkene

In the laboratory vicinal diols are normally prepared from alkenes using the reagent osmium tetraoxide (OSO4) Osmium tetraoxide reacts rapidly with alkenes to give cyclic osmate esters... 

Diols are prepared from alkenes by oxidation with reagents such as osmium tetroxide, potassium permanganate, or hydrogen peroxide (Section 11-7C). However, ethylene glycol is made on a commercial scale from oxacy-clopropane, which in turn is made by air oxidation of ethene at high temperatures over a silver oxide catalyst (Section 11-7D). 

Carbon-Oxygen Bond Formation. CAN is an efficient reagent for the conversion of epoxides into /3-nitrato alcohols. 1,2-cA-Diols can be prepared from alkenes by reaction with CAN/I2 followed by hydrolysis with KOH. Of particular interest is the high-yield synthesis of various a-hydroxy ketones and a-amino ketones from oxiranes and aziridines, respectively. The reactions are operated under mild conditions with the use of NBS and a catalytic amount of CAN as the reagents (eq 25). In another case, N-(silylmethyl)amides can be converted to A-(methoxymethyl)amides by CAN in methanol (eq 26). This chemistry has found application in the removal of electroauxiliaries from peptide substrates. Other CAN-mediated C-0 bondforming reactions include the oxidative rearrangement of aryl cyclobutanes and oxetanes, the conversion of allylic and tertiary benzylic alcohols into their corresponding ethers, and the alkoxylation of cephem sulfoxides at the position a to the ester moiety. 

Vicinal diols can be prepared from alkenes using potassium permanganate or osmium tetraoxide (Section 6.9). We recall that these reactions occur by syn addition to give cis 1,2-diols. 

The addition of Grignard reagents to aldehydes, ketones, and esters is the basis for the synthesis of a wide variety of alcohols, and several examples are given in Scheme 7.3. Primary alcohols can be made from formaldehyde (Entry 1) or, with addition of two carbons, from ethylene oxide (Entry 2). Secondary alcohols are obtained from aldehydes (Entries 3 to 6) or formate esters (Entry 7). Tertiary alcohols can be made from esters (Entries 8 and 9) or ketones (Entry 10). Lactones give diols (Entry 11). Aldehydes can be prepared from trialkyl orthoformate esters (Entries 12 and 13). Ketones can be made from nitriles (Entries 14 and 15), pyridine-2-thiol esters (Entry 16), N-methoxy-A-methyl carboxamides (Entries 17 and 18), or anhydrides (Entry 19). Carboxylic acids are available by reaction with C02 (Entries 20 to 22). Amines can be prepared from imines (Entry 23). Two-step procedures that involve formation and dehydration of alcohols provide routes to certain alkenes (Entries 24 and 25). 

Ring A diosterols.3 The ring A diosterols (3 and 4) of triterpenes can be prepared from the A2-alkene (1) by osmylation to form the two possible cis-diols (2), which on Swern oxidation give the a-diketone (3). The same diketone is also obtained by Swern oxidation of the 2(3,3a-diol, the product of peracid oxidation followed by acid cleavage. The diketone 3 rearranges to the more stable diosphenol (4) in the presence of base. 

The use of chiral catalysts in [2 + 2] cycloadditions can result in significant asymmetric induction. The chiral titanium(IV) catalyst prepared from chiral 1,4-diol 13 catalyzes the cycloaddition of l.I-bis(methylsulfanyl)ethene with electron-deficient alkenes giving cyclobutanes with > 90% enantiomeric excess.19-21 These derivatives can be readily converted to chiral cyclobu-tanones. 

Cyclic sulfates, efficiently prepared from vic-diols in a two-step one-pot procedure [225], were converted into alkenes by treatment with sodium naphthalenide in THF [226]. 

An epoxide is formed from alkene and peroxymethanoic acid (H202 -l- HC02H) but is cleaved by the HC02H present to a frans-diol. Alternatively, osmium tetroxide may be used in fe/t-butyl alcohol and leads to the c/ s-diol. Potassium permanganate in neutral can be useful for preparation of c/ s-glycols. (See Section 11-70.)... 

Exercise 16-37 An elegant modification of the two-step procedure to prepare ketones from alkenes by hydroxylation and oxidative cleavage of the diol formed uses a small amount of potassium permanganate (or osmium tetroxide, 0s04) as the catalyst and sodium periodate as the oxidizing agent ... 

An alternative method of hydroboration is to use diisopinocampheylborane (12) (Scheme 4). This reaction is particularly useful for sterically hindered alkenes. Diisopinocampheylborane (12) is prepared from borane-dimethyl sulfide and (+)-pinene.[23-24] Treatment of 4-meth-ylenecyclohexanone ethylene ketal with diisopinocampheylborane (12) gives the borane 13.[25] Further treatment with 2 equivalents of an aldehyde results in the elimination of pinene and the formation of a new dialkyl boronate, e.g. treatment of 13 with acetaldehyde gives the diethyl cyclohexylmethylboronate 14J261 The dialkyl boronates thus produced can be transesterified with pinanediol to give 15[26] or with other cyclic diols. 

A 1,2-diol arising from a trans-hydroxylation process is formed from an alkene by way of an intermediate epoxide which is subjected to a ring-opening reaction and hydrolysis. The epoxides may be isolated when the alkene is reacted with perbenzoic add or m-chloroperbenzoic acid (Section 4.2.56, p. 457) in a solvent such as chloroform or dichloromethane the preparation of epoxides by this method and by other important procedures are discussed and illustrated... 

Alkenes from 1,2-diols. Corey and Hopkins2 have reported two improvements in the preparation of alkenes from 1,2-diols via the thionocarbonate (1, 1233-1234 3, 315-316). The thionocarbonate is prepared with thiophosgene and 4-dimethylamino-pyridine, a method generally successful except for ditertiary diols. The thionocarbonate is converted into an alkene when treated with I at 25 40" for 2-24 hours. 

The Upjohn Dihydroxylation allows the sy/i-selective preparation of 1,2-diols from alkenes by the use of 0s04 as a catalyst and a stoichiometric amount of an oxidant such as NMO (N-methyl morpholine- JV-Oxide). 

The diol can be prepared from syn hydroxylation of (Z)-2-butene. The c/s-alkene can be prepared by hydrogenation of 2-butyne, and 2-butyne can be prepared by alkylation of propyne. The retrosynthetic analysis is ... 

From the mechanism shown in Scheme 7.23, we would expect the dihydroxylation with syn-selectivity. The cyclic intermediate may be isolated in the osmium reaction, which is formed by the cycloaddition of OSO4 to the alkene. Since osmium tetroxide is highly toxic and very expensive, the reaction is performed using a catalytic amount of osmium tetroxide and an oxidizing agent such as TBHP, sodium chlorate, potassium ferricyanide or NMO, which regenerates osmium tetroxide. For example, Upjohn dihydroxylation allows the syn-selective preparation of 1,2-diols from alkenes by the use of catalytic amount of OSO4 and a stoichiometric amount of an oxidant such as NMO. 

In Scheme 7.27, it is shown that a cis-disubstituted epoxide, which, of course, could be prepared from the corresponding a s-alkene, is converted into trans-diol by an acid or a base. 

Reaction of cyclic sulfates or thionocarbonates, derived from 1,2-diols, with telluride results in stereospecific alkene formation <1995TL7209>. This is illustrated by the conversion of the cyclic sulfate OTitra-l,2-diphenyl-l,2-ethanediol 49 into fif-stilbene exclusively by Te, as shown in Equation (13). Treatment of the cyclic sulfate of 47-1,2-diphenyl-1,2-ethanediol with Te produces /ra r-stilbene exclusively. These results are accounted for by intermolecular Te Sn2 displacement followed by intramolecular Sn2 displacement to form the corresponding tellurirane. The tellurirane then thermally loses tellurium stereoselectively forming alkene. Cyclic sulfates need not be used dimethanesulfonates or di-/i-toluenesulfonates prepared from 1,2-diols also, stereospecifically, provide alkenes via telluriranes <1993CC923, 1996SL655>. 

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