Epoxidation by dioxiranes

Epoxidation by Dioxirane Derivatives. Another useful epoxidizing agent is dimethyldioxirane (DMDO),86 which is generated by in situ reaction of acetone and peroxymonosulfate in buffered aqueous solution. Distillation gives about aO.lM solution of DMDO in acetone.87... 

The similarity of olefin epoxidation by TM peroxo and hydroperoxo complexes with epoxidation by dioxirane derivatives R2CO2 and percar-boxylic acids RCO(OOH) was confirmed by computational studies [73-79]. This similarity holds in particular for the spiro-type transition structure. 

The epoxidation of unfunctionalized alkenes by dioxiranes was investigated mainly for mechanistic purposes P . Some representative cases are collected in Scheme 3. Although such unfunctionalized alkenes have not been studied as intensively as the other olefin types, the recent asymmetric epoxidations by dioxirane were performed mainly on this substrate class (vide infra) J P. For this purpose, in-situ-generated dioxiranes in carefully buffered aqueous solutions had to be used, since the chiral dioxiranes cannot be readily isolated. Fortunately, the epoxides of unfunctionalized alkenes are more resistant to... 

Simple alkenes can be epoxidized by dioxiranes in an asymmetric manner. This chemistry is discussed in detail in Chapter 10. 

They found that the erythrolthreo-% i,cX N Xtj is X-substituent dependent, acting through H-bonding, which was demonstrated by the TFDO Ic epoxidation of 73. An example of cyclohexene epoxidation by dioxiranes derived from various ketones grafted on solid supports has also appeared <1996MI273>. Shi and co-workers reported <1996JA9806> excellent ee s of asymmetric epoxidation of different /ra t-olefms by fructose-derived ketones 74 before then, only low enantioselectivities (9-20%) have been reported on this type of reaction. 

To date, only a little work has been carried out on the enantioselective epoxidations by dioxiranes. For example, with 1-phenylethyl as asymmetric inductor about 12% e.e. has been reported [9]. 

The in situ procedure as proposed by Sonnet et al. (18) is much more attractive for synthetic applications. With the use of only a moderate excess of monopersulfate (C=C KHSO5 = l 2-2.4), they achieved an 80% yield for the epoxidation of oleic acid methyl ester and 81-96% for the epoxidation of various plant oils. It is a twophase reaction with a crown-ether as phase-transfer catalyst yet a considerable amount of inorganic waste (six times the weight of the product) is produced. In a recent work (21), the phase-transfer catalyst was replaced by acetonitrile as a polar solvent. In summary, epoxidation by dioxiranes is a promising new method for oleo-chemistry, especially because it also works in combination with metal catalysts to influence diastereoselectivity (22) an enantioselective epoxidation with sugardioxiranes has also been reported (23). 

Various computational models agree that the reaction occurs by a concerted mechanism.91 Comparison between epoxidation by peroxy acids and dioxiranes suggests that they have similar transition structures. 

An important finding is that all peroxo compounds with d° configuration of the TM center exhibit essentially the same epoxidation mechanism [51, 61, 67-72] which is also valid for organic peroxo compounds such as dioxiranes and peracids [73-79], The calculations revealed that direct nucleophilic attack of the olefin at an electrophilic peroxo oxygen center (via a TS of spiro structure) is preferred because of significantly lower activation barriers compared to the multi-step insertion mechanism [51, 61-67]. A recent computational study of epoxidation by Mo peroxo complexes showed that the metallacycle intermediate of the insertion mechanism leads to an aldehyde instead of an epoxide product [62],... 

Wang and Shi have published a detailed study of their fructose-based dioxirane epoxidation catalyst system with hydroxyalkene substrates. The ees obtained were highly pH dependent. The lower enantioselectivity obtained at low pH is attributed to the substantial contribution of direct epoxidation by Oxone. The results obtained with... 

Electron-rich alkenes are the more reactive jr-bond snbstrates towards epoxidation by the electrophilic dioxiranes Some typical examples of these oxidations are snm-marized in Scheme 2. Since the resnlting epoxides are nsnally hydrolytically and ther-molytically qnite labile, snch oxidations are best carried ont with isolated dioxiranes. For example, the 8,9 epoxide of the well-known aflatoxin B, postnlated as potent carcinogen in the oxidative metabolism of this natural product, escaped numerous efforts to prepare it by conventional epoxidations because of its sensitivity towards hydrolysis . The synthesis of this labile epoxide was readily accomplished by employing a solution of the isolated DMD at room temperature (equation 2), and its mutagenicity unequivocally... 

Of the organohahdes, only the iodides are prone to oxidation by dioxirane for example, iodobenzene is oxidized by DMD to a mixture of iodosobenzene and iodylbenzene. In contrast, alkyl iodides afford labile primary oxidation products, which eliminate the oxidized iodine functionality to result in aUcenes (equation 23). In such a dioxirane oxidation, the subsequent in-situ reaction of the alkene affords the corresponding epoxides . 

In regard to the stereoselectivity of the insertion process, Murray and coworkers have shown that the CH oxidation of substituted cyclohexanes by dioxiranes is, like the already discussed epoxidation, highly stereo-controUed . A specific case is c -decalin, which gives only the cis alcohol, as exemplarily displayed in equation 27. A similar stereoselective retention of configuration was also obtained for frawi-decalin and cis- and frawi-dimethylcyclohexanes"°. In fact, complete retention of configuration was demonstrated in the CH oxidation of chiral alkanes ". For example, the optically active (f )-2-phenylbutane was converted by either DMD or TFD" to (5 )-2-phenylbutan-2-ol (equation 28) without any loss of the enantiomeric purity (ep) in the product. 

Curd, R., Fiorentino, M. and Serio, M. R. Asymmetric Epoxidation of Unfunctionahzed Alkenes by Dioxirane Intermediates Generated from Potassium Peroxomonosulphate and Chiral Ketones. J. Chem. Soc., Chem. Commun. 1984, 155-156. 

Chiral dioxirane that was also generated in situ from the corresponding ketone and Oxone was first used for catalytic asymmetric epoxidation by Curd et al., although enantioselectivity was low [7], Later, Yang et al. disclosed that this approach had a bright prospect if used with a combination of Oxone and chiral ketone 3 [8]. Ketone 3 is converted into the corresponding dioxirane in situ, which epoxidizes olefins (Scheme 6B.5). 

---