Aerobic epoxidation

There are several available terminal oxidants for the transition metal-catalyzed epoxidation of olefins (Table 6.1). Typical oxidants compatible with most metal-based epoxidation systems are various alkyl hydroperoxides, hypochlorite, or iodo-sylbenzene. A problem associated with these oxidants is their low active oxygen content (Table 6.1), while there are further drawbacks with these oxidants from the point of view of the nature of the waste produced. Thus, from an environmental and economical perspective, molecular oxygen should be the preferred oxidant, because of its high active oxygen content and since no waste (or only water) is formed as a byproduct. One of the major limitations of the use of molecular oxygen as terminal oxidant for the formation of epoxides, however, is the poor product selectivity obtained in these processes [6]. Aerobic oxidations are often difficult to control and can sometimes result in combustion or in substrate overoxidation. In... 

Subsequent to the development of the (salen)Cr-catalyzed desymmetrization of meso-epoxides with azide (Scheme 7.3), Jacobsen discovered that the analogous (salen)Co(n) complex 6 promoted the enantioselective addition of benzoic acids to meso-epoxides to afford valuable monoprotected C2-symmetric diols (Scheme 7.15) [26], Under the reaction conditions, complex 6 served as a precatalyst for the (salen) Co(iii)-OBz complex, which was fonned in situ by aerobic oxidation. While the enantioselectivity was moderate for certain substrates, the high crystallinity of the products allowed access to enantiopure materials by simple recrystallization. 

The complex Pd-(-)-sparteine was also used as catalyst in an important reaction. Two groups have simultaneously and independently reported a closely related aerobic oxidative kinetic resolution of secondary alcohols. The oxidation of secondary alcohols is one of the most common and well-studied reactions in chemistry. Although excellent catalytic enantioselective methods exist for a variety of oxidation processes, such as epoxidation, dihydroxy-lation, and aziridination, there are relatively few catalytic enantioselective examples of alcohol oxidation. The two research teams were interested in the metal-catalyzed aerobic oxidation of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones and became involved in extending the scopes of these oxidations to asymmetric catalysis. 

The anaerobic biotransfonnation of aromatic compounds may be dependent on COj, and a review by Ensign et al. (1998) provides a brief summary of the role of CO2 in the metabolism of epoxides by Xanthobacter sp. strain Py2, and of acetone by both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. 

The first step in the aerobic degradation of alkenes is epoxidation. Epoxidation is then followed by several alternatives. In one of them, the epoxides may nndergo carboxylation the enzyme... 

The aerobic degradation of chloroethene (vinyl chloride) by Mycobacterium aurum strain LI proceeded by initial formation of an epoxide mediated by an alkene monooxygenase (Hartmans and de Bout 1992). This reaction has also been demonstrated to occur with Methylosinus trichosporium, even though subsequent reactions were purely chemical (Castro et al. 1992b). 

Rui L, 1 Cao, W Chen, KF Reardon, TK Wood (2004) Active site engineering of the epoxide hydrolase from Agrobacterium radiobacter ADI to enhance aerobic mineralization of cw-l,2-dichloroethylene in cells expressing an evolved toluene ort/io-monooxygenase. J Biol Chem 279 46810-46817. 

Oxidizing enzymes use molecular oxygen as the oxidant, but epoxidation with synthetic metalloporphyrins needs a chemical oxidant, except for one example Groves and Quinn have reported that dioxo-ruthenium porphyrin (19) catalyzes epoxidation using molecular oxygen.69 An asymmetric version of this aerobic epoxidation has been achieved by using complex (7) as the catalyst, albeit with moderate enantioselectivity (Scheme 9).53... 

Pozzi and co-workers have also reported a fluorous soluble cobalt complex, which is active in the aerobic epoxidation of alkenes in a fluorous biphasic system (FBS).[50] The ligand used in this complex was a fluorinated tetraarylporphyrin, with eight perfluorooctyl chains shown in Figure 6.13. The cobalt complex was dissolved in perfluorohexane and added to a solution of the alkene with 2-methylpropanal (aldehyde substrate — 2 1) at room temperature. 

Khenkin, A.M. and Neumann, R. (2000). Aerobic photochemical oxidation in meso-porous Ti-MCM-41 epoxidation of alkenes and oxidation of sulfides. Catal. Lett. 68(1-2), 109-111... 

The attractive (80) features of MOFs and similar materials noted above for catalytic applications have led to a few reports of catalysis by these systems (81-89), but to date the great majority of MOF applications have addressed selective sorption and separation of gases (54-57,59,80,90-94). Most of the MOF catalytic applications have involved hydrolytic processes and several have involved enantioselec-tive processes. Prior to our work, there were only two or three reports of selective oxidation processes catalyzed by MOFs. Nguyen and Hupp reported an MOF with chiral covalently incorporated (salen)Mn units that catalyzes asymmetric epoxidation by iodosylarenes (95), and in a very recent study, Corma and co-workers reported aerobic alcohol oxidation, but no mechanistic studies or discussion was provided (89). 

Coenzyme M was shown to function as the central cofactor of aliphatic epoxide carboxylation in Xanthobacter strain Py2, an aerobe from the Bacteria domain (AUen et al. 1999). The organism metabolizes short-chain aliphatic alkenes via oxidation to epoxyalkanes, followed by carboxylation to p-ketoacids. An enzyme in the pathway catalyzes the addition of coenzyme M to epoxypropane to form 2-(2-hydroxypropylthio)ethanesulfonate. This intermediate is oxidized to 2-(2-ketopropylthio)ethanesulfonate, followed by a NADPH-dependent cleavage and carboxylation of the P-ketothioether to form acetoacetate and coenzyme M. This is the only known function for coenzyme M outside the methanoarchaea. 

Heptachlor rapidly degraded when incubated with acclimated, mixed microbial cultures under aerobic conditions. After 4 wk, 95.3% of the applied dosage was removed (Leigh, 1969). In a mixed bacterial culture under aerobic conditions, heptachlor was transformed to chlordene, 1-hydroxychlordene, heptachlor epoxide, and chlordene epoxide in low yields (Miles et al, 1971). Heptachlor rapidly degraded when incubated with acclimated, mixed microbial cultures under aerobic conditions. After 4 wk, 95.3% of the applied dosage was removed (Leigh, 1969). 

Remarkably JRu (0)2(por)] with sterically bulky ligands can catalyze the aerobic epoxidation of alkenes 332,333 example was demonstrated by [Ru (0)2(TMP)]. With the... 

Although the chiral ketoiminatomanganese(lll) complexes were reported to catalyze the asymmetric aerobic alkene epoxidations, an aldehyde such as pivalaldehyde is required as a sacrihcial reducing agent. Groves reported that the dioxo(porphyrinato)ruthenium complexes 31, prepared with m-chloroperoxyben-zoic acid, catalyzed the aerobic epoxidation without any reductant. " On the basis of these reports, Che synthesized the optically active D4-porphyrin 35 and applied it to the truly aerobic enantioselective epoxidation of alkenes catalyzed by the chiral frani-dioxo (D4-porphyrinato)ruthenium(Vl) complex. The dioxoruthenium complex catalyzed the enantioselective aerobic epoxidation of alkenes with moderate to good enantiomeric excess without any reductant. In the toluene solvent, the turnovers for the epoxidation of T-(3-methylstyrene reached 20 and the ee of the epoxide was increased to 73% ee. 

Some typical epoxidations are listed in Table 3.1. The first Ru-catalysed epoxida-tion was reported in 1983 by James et al., in which RuBrlPPh XOEPl/PhlO/CHjClj was used to epoxidise styrene, norbomene and c/x-stilbene in low yields trans-stilbene was not oxidised [588]. It was later noted that tranx-RulOl lTMPl/Oj/C H aerobically oxidised cyclic alkenes, and a catalytic cycle involving Ru 0(TMP) was proposed, in which there is disproportionation of Ru(0)(TMP) to Ru(TMP) and fran -Ru(0)2(TMP), the latter epoxidising the alkene and the former being oxidised back to the latter by (Fig. 1.26) [46, 583]. Stilbene, tranx-styrene and norbomene were efficiently epoxidised by trani-RulOl lTMPl/lCl pyNOl/CgH [589], as was epoxidation of exo-norbomenes catalysed by trani-RulOl lTMPl/Oj/ CgHg [590]. 

Fig. 1.26 Catalytic cycle for aerobic alkene epoxidation by lrani-Ru(0),(TMP) [46, 583]...

The first Ru-catalysed epoxidation was reported in 1983 by James et al. using RuBr(PPh3)(OEP)/PhlO/CH2Cl2 with styrene, norbomene and aT-stilbene in low yields cf. mech. Ch. 1 [23]. Eater work showed that fran -Ru(0)2(TMP)/02/CgHg catalysed aerobic alkene epoxidation of cyclo-octene, cis- and trans- -methylstyrenes and norbomene (Fig. 1.26) [24],... 

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