Oxygen epoxidizing

The mechanisms of these acid-catalyzed epoxide openings are more complex than they at first appear. They seem to be neither purely SN1 nor SN2 but instead to be midway between the two extremes and to have characteristics of both. Take the reaction of 1,2-epoxy-l-methylcyclohexane with HBr shown in Figure 18.2, for instance. The reaction yields only a single stereoisomer of 2-bromo-2-methyl-cyclohexanol in which the —Br and —OH groups are trans, an S 2-li.ke result caused by backside displacement of the epoxide oxygen. But the fact that Br attacks the more hindered tertiary side of the epoxide rather than the less hindered secondary side is an SN1 -like result in which the more stable, tertiary carbocation is involved. 

Lanosterol biosynthesis begins with the selective conversion of squalene to its epoxide, (35)-2,3-oxidosqualene/ catalyzed by squalene epoxidase. Molecular 02 provides the source of the epoxide oxygen atom, and NADPH is required, along with a flavin coenzyme. The proposed mechanism involves... 

From a stereochemical point of view, compound 35 is rather complex, for it possesses four contiguous oxygen-bearing stereocenters. Nonetheless, compound 35 is amenable to a very productive retro-synthetic maneuver. Indeed, removal of the epoxide oxygen from 35 furnishes trans allylic alcohol 36 as a potential precursor. In the synthetic direction, SAE of 36 with the (+)-dialkyl tartrate ligand would be expected to afford epoxy alcohol 35, thus introducing two of the four contiguous stereocenters in one step. 

Exclusive trims attack of the nucleophile is also observed with 2,3-epoxycyclopentanones 1559. In contrast to 2-alkyl- and 2-methoxy-substituted cyclopentanones, preferential trans attack to 2,3-epoxycyclopenlanones occurs with alkyl, ethenyl, and ethynyl nucleophiles. Thus, there is no assistance by the epoxidic oxygen for cis attack. Due to the geometry of the molecule, chelation-controlled cis attack is not possible39 60. 

The methyl group is delivered syn to the epoxide via an intermediate chelate between the organometallic reagent and the epoxide oxygen. Consistent with this hypothesis is the observation that the civ selectivity is increased as the solvent polarity is decreased and that addition of trimethylaluminum, which can strongly coordinate to the epoxide, gives nearly exclusively the trans-product. In the latter reaction, it was assumed that the addition of methylcopper occurs anti to the chelated epoxide moiety, possibly via an SN2 mechanism20. 

An illustration of the plethora of reactions that may occur is afforded by the transformation of caryophyllene oxide by Botrytis cinerea. Although most of the reactions were hydrox-ylations or epoxidations, two involved transannular reactions (a) between the C4-epoxide oxygen and Cy and (b) between the C4-epoxide and C13 with formation of a caryolane (Figure 7.47) (Duran et al. 1999). 

A Japanese patent72) claims the synthesis of thermally stable copolymers by free-radical terpolymerization of dialkylstannyl dimethacrylates, glycidyl methacrylate and vinyl monomers (vinyl chloride, styrene, vinyl acetate, etc.). The products contain 0.5 to 30% tin and 0.05 to 7 % epoxide oxygen. 

As mentioned earlier, the McDonald group was able to extend their epoxide-domino-cyclization strategy to 1,5,9-triepoxides [10]. Indeed, they were successful in converting precursor 1-143 into the tricyclic product 1-146 in 52 % yield after hydrolysis (Scheme 1.36) [41]. As a possible mechanism of this polyoxacyclization it can be assumed that, after activation of the terminal epoxide by BF3, a sequence of intramolecular nucleophilic substitutions by the other epoxide oxygens takes place, which is induced by a nucleophilic attack of the carbonate oxygen, as indicated in 1-144 to give 1-145. 

There are four stereoisomers of the diol epoxide of BP (XVIII -XXI). Two (XVIII and XIX) have the epoxide oxygen atom below the plane of BP and the other two (XX and XXI) have the oxygen above this plane. In addition the 7-hydroxyl group may be on the same (syn) side (XIX and XXI) as the epoxide oxygen atom or on the opposite side (anti) (XVIII and XX). Also the trans hydroxyl groups may be diaxial or diequatorial, and this may be demonstrated by crystallographic and other, such as NMR, studies (92, 93). 

Finally, chiral epoxides can be prepared from a,p-unsaturated carbonyl compounds through an entirely different approach, in which the epoxide oxygen is derived from the carbonyl moiety. For example, trans-aryl-vinyl epoxides 52 can be synthesized from conjugated aldehydes 50 and chiral sulfonium salts 51, with excellent ee s. The protocol is especially effective for substrates which bear a p-mcthoxy group on the aryl substituent <00TL7309>. 

Tendency for epoxide protonation. When the epoxide is formed in vivo it is believed that protonation of the oxygen occurs. This idea is supported by the fact that there are subcellular regions with high proton activity [49-52]. Protonation of an epoxide oxygen weakens the C-0 bonds and promotes ring opening [53-57]. 

Titanium enolates.1 This Fischer carbene converts epoxides into titanium enolates. In the case of cyclohexene oxide, the product is a titanium enolate of cyclohexanone. But the enolates formed by reaction with 1,2-epoxybutane (equation I) or 2,3-epoxy butane differ from those formed from 2-butanone (Equation II). Apparently the reaction with epoxides does not involve rearrangement to the ketone but complexation of the epoxide oxygen to the metal and transfer of hydrogen from the substrate to the methylene group. 

The designations 1 and 2 for the diol epoxides indicate that the benzylic hydroxyl group and the epoxide oxygen are cis (syn) or trans (anti), respectively. 

A simple example of a ring-opening substitution reaction is the acid-catalysed hydrolysis of epoxides. In the example shown, protonation of the epoxide oxygen improves the leaving group, and an Sn2 reaction may then proceed using water as the nucleophile. Three-membered rings must of necessity... 

Epoxides, like cyclic halonium ions, undergo ring opening through rearside attack of nucleophiles (see Section 6.3.2). Two mechanisms are shown, for both basic and acidic conditions. Under acidic conditions, protonation of the epoxide oxygen occurs first. The epoxidation-nucleophilic attack sequence also adds substituents to the double bond in an anti sense. 

---