Epoxidation hydroperoxide involvement

The gas phase oxidation of ethylene to ethylene oxide over silver catalysts has been studied extensively.49 la-c It has been suggested that epoxide formation involves transfer of oxygen from a silver-oxygen complex to the olefin on the catalyst surface.4913 Silver-on-silica also catalyzes the liquid phase oxidation of cumene to cumene hydroperoxide. A mechanism that involved insertion of coordinated oxygen into a C—H bond was proposed630 ... 

The metal complexes [MCl(CO)(Ph3P)2] (M = Rh, Ir) catalyze epoxidation of tetramethylethylene with tert-hutyl hydroperoxide in good yield and the selectivity was better 90%) with rhodium than iridium, equation (285). In this case a reasonable mechanism for epoxide formation involves epoxidation of unreacted olefin with the intermediate aUylic hydroperoxide, XXXIX. The allylic hydroperoxide was found to reach levels in excess of 11% during the course of the metal catalyzed reactions of tetramethylethylene with oxygen [470], equation (284). 

Reaction conditions depend on the reactants and usually involve acid or base catalysis. Examples of X include sulfate, acid sulfate, alkane- or arenesulfonate, chloride, bromide, hydroxyl, alkoxide, perchlorate, etc. RX can also be an alkyl orthoformate or alkyl carboxylate. The reaction of cycHc alkylating agents, eg, epoxides and a2iridines, with sodium or potassium salts of alkyl hydroperoxides also promotes formation of dialkyl peroxides (44,66). Olefinic alkylating agents include acycHc and cycHc olefinic hydrocarbons, vinyl and isopropenyl ethers, enamines, A[-vinylamides, vinyl sulfonates, divinyl sulfone, and a, P-unsaturated compounds, eg, methyl acrylate, mesityl oxide, acrylamide, and acrylonitrile (44,66). 

Hydroperoxide Process. The hydroperoxide process to propylene oxide involves the basic steps of oxidation of an organic to its hydroperoxide, epoxidation of propylene with the hydroperoxide, purification of the propylene oxide, and conversion of the coproduct alcohol to a useful product for sale. Incorporated into the process are various purification, concentration, and recycle methods to maximize product yields and minimize operating expenses. Commercially, two processes are used. The coproducts are / fZ-butanol, which is converted to methyl tert-huty ether [1634-04-4] (MTBE), and 1-phenyl ethanol, converted to styrene [100-42-5]. The coproducts are produced in a weight ratio of 3—4 1 / fZ-butanol/propylene oxide and 2.4 1 styrene/propylene oxide, respectively. These processes use isobutane (see Hydrocarbons) and ethylbenzene (qv), respectively, to produce the hydroperoxide. Other processes have been proposed based on cyclohexane where aniline is the final coproduct, or on cumene (qv) where a-methyl styrene is the final coproduct. 

Double bonds in a,/3-unsaturated keto steroids can be selectively oxidized with alkaline hydrogen peroxide to yield epoxy ketones. In contrast to the electrophilic addition mechanism of peracids, the mechanism of alkaline epoxidation involves nucleophilic attack of hydroperoxide ion on the con-... 

The enantioselective epoxidation method developed by Sharpless and co-workers is an important asymmetric transformation known today. This method involves the epoxidation of allylic alcohols with fcrt-butyl hydroperoxide and titanium (sopropoxide in the presence of optically active pure tartarate esters, see Eqn. (25). 

Transition Metal-Catalyzed Epoxidation of Alkenes. Other transition metal oxidants can convert alkenes to epoxides. The most useful procedures involve f-butyl hydroperoxide as the stoichiometric oxidant in combination with vanadium or... 

Sharpless epoxidation involves treating an allylic alcohol with titanium(IV) tetraisopropoxide [Ti(0-/Pr)4], tert-butyl hydroperoxide [t-BuOOH], and a specific enantiomer of a tartrate ester. 

Another interesting asymmetric epoxidation technique using metal catalysis involves the vanadium complexes of A-hydroxy-[2.2]paracyclophane-4-carboxylic amides (e.g., 19), which serve as catalysts for the epoxidation of allylic alcohols with f-butyl hydroperoxide as... 

The idea of double asymmetric induction is also applicable to asymmetric epoxidation (see Chapter 1 for double asymmetric induction). In the case of asymmetric epoxidation involving double asymmetric induction, the enantiose-lectivity depends on whether the configurations of the substrate and the chiral ligand are matched or mismatched. For example, treating 7 with titanium tet-raisopropoxide and t-butyl hydroperoxide without (+)- or ( )-diethyl tartrate yields a mixture of epoxy alcohols 8 and 9 in a ratio of 2.3 1 (Scheme 4 3). In a... 

We emphasize that the above mechanism is strictly valid only for H202 and alkyl hydroperoxide epoxidations of alkenes catalyzed by TS-1 and Ti-MCM-41. In view of the observation of similar titanium oxo species when H2 + 02 are brought in contact with TS-1 or Ti-MCM-41 (54), similar conclusions may be drawn for that system as well. A radical mechanism involving the Ti=0 groups had been proposed earlier by Khouw et al. (221) for the hydroxylation of alkanes. No spectroscopic investigation of the TS-l/H202/alkane has yet been reported. 

Although it was also Henbest who reported as early as 1965 the first asymmetric epoxidation by using a chiral peracid, without doubt, one of the methods of enantioselective synthesis most frequently used in the past few years has been the "asymmetric epoxidation" reported in 1980 by K.B. Sharpless [3] which meets almost all the requirements for being an "ideal" reaction. That is to say, complete stereofacial selectivities are achieved under catalytic conditions and working at the multigram scale. The method, which is summarised in Fig. 10.1, involves the titanium (IV)-catalysed epoxidation of allylic alcohols in the presence of tartaric esters as chiral ligands. The reagents for this asyimnetric epoxidation of primary allylic alcohols are L-(+)- or D-(-)-diethyl (DET) or diisopropyl (DIPT) tartrate,27 titanium tetraisopropoxide and water free solutions of fert-butyl hydroperoxide. The natural and unnatural diethyl tartrates, as well as titanium tetraisopropoxide are commercially available, and the required water-free solution of tert-bnty hydroperoxide is easily prepared from the commercially available isooctane solutions. 

Other transition-metal oxidants can convert alkenes to epoxides. The most useful procedures involve /-butyl hydroperoxide as the stoichiometric oxidant in combination with vanadium, molybdenum, or titanium compounds. The most reliable substrates for oxidation are allylic alcohols. The hydroxyl group of the alcohol plays both an activating and a stereodirecting role in these reactions. /-Butyl hydroperoxide and a catalytic amount of VO(acac)2 convert allylic alcohols to the corresponding epoxides in good yields.44 The reaction proceeds through a complex in which the allylic alcohol is coordinated to... 

Sharpless Asymmetric Epoxidation This is a method of converting allylic alcohols to chiral epoxy alcohols with very high enantioselectivity (i.e., with preference for one enantiomer rather than formation of racemic mixture). It involves treating the allylic alcohol with tert-butyl hydroperoxide, titanium(IV) tetra isopropoxide [Ti(0—/Pr)4] and a specific stereoisomer of tartaric ester. For example,... 

The chiral ligand (44) was prepared starting from the cyclic a-amino acid (S)-proline80). Recently, similar chiral catalysts and related molybdenum complexes involving optically active N-alkyl-P-aminoalcohols as stable chiral ligands and acetylacetone as a replaceable bidentate ligand, were designed for the epoxidation of allylic alcohols with alkyl hydroperoxides which could be catalyzed by such metal complexes 8,). 

Mimoun proposed a mechanism that is general for both stoichiometric epoxidations with peroxo complexes and for catalytic systems employing alkyl hydroperoxides.292-294 It involves an alkylperoxidic species with the alkene complexed through the metal ... 

Thus, the Milas reagents may be considered to be the progenitors of the metal catalyst/alkyl hydroperoxide reagents5 5 that were later developed cy, inter alia, Halcon, Arco and Shell workers and culminated in the realization of commercial processes for the epoxidation of propylene (reaction II). These reagents involve the very same metal catalysts, e.g. MoVI, WVI, vv and TiIV, as the Milas reagents and they are mechanistically closely related. 

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