Epoxidation 1- Butyl hydroperoxide-Dialkyl tartrate-Titanium isopropoxide

Ti(OPr )4/Bu OOH/tartrate ester (Sharpless oxidation) (titanium isopropoxide/t-butyl hydroperoxide dialkyl tartrate) Dichloromethane -20 enantioselective epoxidation of allylic alcohols... 

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 Sharpless epoxidation uses ferf-butyl hydroperoxide, titanium(IV) isopropoxide, and a dialkyl tartrate ester as the reagents. The following epoxidation of geraniol is typical. 

Of particular value in complex syntheses is a technique for epoxidation that can be applied to allylic alcohols and that directs the approach of the oxidizing group to one or the other of the two faces of the double bond. This results in the formation of one enantiomeric form in excess of the other and, thus, stands as an asymmetric synthesis. The technique is simple and consists of the formation of a chiral catalyst, a coordination complex, from titanium tetra-isopropoxide and one of the optically active forms of a dialkyl tartrate. The allylic alcohol associates with this complex in a specific way and then is epoxidized on one face by t-butyl hydroperoxide. The epoxide is produced in high enantiomeric excess, frequently more than 95%. This process has been used widely in organic synthesis since its discovery in 1980. It is now known as the Sharpless epoxidation. 

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