Epoxidations, catalytic asymmetric

Catalytic asymmetric epoxidation and aziridination mediated by sulfur ylides 98SL329. 

The first attempt at a catalytic asymmetric sulfur ylide epoxidation was by Fur-ukawa s group [5]. The catalytic cycle was formed by initial alkylation of a sulfide (14), followed by deprotonation of the sulfonium salt 15 to form an ylide 16 and... 

Table 1.4 Tosylhydrazone salt 19 in catalytic asymmetric epoxidation.

Table 1.5 Use of a range of tosylhydrazone salts in catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of benzaldehyde. Na 1 mol% Rh2(OAc)4 V 0 5-20 mol% sulfide 7 hi o Ar ...

Of course, the key limitation of the ylide-mediated methods discussed so far is the use of stoichiometric amounts of the chiral reagent. Building on their success with catalytic asymmetric ylide-mediated epoxidation (see Section 1.2.1.2), Aggarwal and co-workers have reported an aza version that provides a highly efficient catalytic asymmetric synthesis of trans-aziridines from imines and diazo compounds or the corresponding tosylhydrazone salts (Scheme 1.43) [68-70]. 

Aziridination remains less well developed than epoxidation. Nevertheless, high selectivity in inline aziridination has been achieved through the use of chiral sulfi-nimines as auxiliaries. Highly successful catalytic asymmetric aziridination reactions employing either sulfur ylides or diazo esters and chiral Lewis acids have been developed, although their scope and potential applications in synthesis have yet to be established. 

Catalytic Asymmetric Epoxide Ring-opening Chemistry... 

Following Uskokovic s seminal quinine synthesis [40], Jacobsen has very recently reported the first catalytic asymmetric synthesis of quinine and quinidine. The stereospecific construction of the bicyclic framework, introducing the relative and absolute stereochemistry at the Cg- and expositions, was achieved by way of the enantiomerically enriched trans epoxide 87, prepared from olefin 86 by SAD (AD-mix (3) and subsequent one-pot cyclization of the corresponding diol [2b], The key intramolecular SN2 reaction between the Ni- and the Cg-positions was accomplished by removal of the benzyl carbamate with Et2AlCl/thioanisole and subsequent thermal cyclization to give the desired quinudidine skeleton (Scheme 8.22) [41],... 

The sulfur ylide-mediated epoxidation of aldehydes has been thoroughly investigated [70, 71]. The chiral sulfur ylides reported by Aggarwal have been most broadly applicable, and a catalytic, asymmetric process yielding aromatic transepoxides has been developed [72]. In this process, the sulfur ylides are produced in situ from diazo compounds, generated in turn from tosylhydrazone salts (Scheme 9.15) [73],... 

The past thirty years have witnessed great advances in the selective synthesis of epoxides, and numerous regio-, chemo-, enantio-, and diastereoselective methods have been developed. Discovered in 1980, the Katsuki-Sharpless catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, in which a catalyst for the first time demonstrated both high selectivity and substrate promiscuity, was the first practical entry into the world of chiral 2,3-epoxy alcohols [10, 11]. Asymmetric catalysis of the epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins through the use of Jacobsen s chiral [(sale-i i) Mi iln] [12] or Shi s chiral ketones [13] as oxidants is also well established. Catalytic asymmetric epoxidations have been comprehensively reviewed [14, 15]. 

The synthesis in Scheme 13.40 features a catalytic asymmetric epoxidation (see Section 12.2.1.2). By use of me30-2,4-dimethylglutaric anhydride as the starting material, the proper relative configuration at C(4) and C(6) is ensured. The epoxidation directed by the (+)-tartrate catalyst controls the configuration established at C(2) and C(3) by the epoxidation. Although the epoxidation is highly selective in... 

Spectacular achievements in catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of olefins using chiral Mnm-salen complexes have stimulated a great deal of interest in designing polymeric analogs of these complexes and in their use as recyclable chiral catalysts. Techniques of copolymerization of appropriate functional monomers have been utilized to prepare these polymers, and both organic and inorganic polymers have been used as the carriers to immobilize these metal complexes.103... 

Another microwave-mediated intramolecular SN2 reaction forms one of the key steps in a recent catalytic asymmetric synthesis of the cinchona alkaloid quinine by Jacobsen and coworkers [209]. The strategy to construct the crucial quinudidine core of the natural product relies on an intramolecular SN2 reaction/epoxide ringopening (Scheme 6.103). After removal of the benzyl carbamate (Cbz) protecting group with diethylaluminum chloride/thioanisole, microwave heating of the acetonitrile solution at 200 °C for 2 min provided a 68% isolated yield of the natural product as the final transformation in a 16-step total synthesis. 

Aggarwal et al.108 reported excellent results with the catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of aldehydes. As shown in Scheme 4-52, a series of thioacetals 137 was prepared from hydroxy thiol 136 and the corresponding carbonyl compound. Among them, compound 138, derived from 136 and acetaldehyde, proved to be the best catalyst for asymmetric epoxidation of aldehydes. 

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