Esters asymmetric hydroxylation

Hydrolytic enzymes such as esterases and Upases have proven particularly useful for asymmetric synthesis because of their abiUties to discriminate between enantiotopic ester and hydroxyl groups. A large number of esterases and Upases are commercially available in large quantities many are inexpensive and accept a broad range of substrates. 

Asymmetric hydroxylation of chiral imides The (Z)-spdium enolates of the chiral imides 2 and 3 undergo asymmetric hydroxylation on reaction with 2-(phen-ylsulfonyl)-3-phenyloxaziridine (1). The products [(R)-4 and (S)-6] are solvo-lyzed to (R)- and (S)-a-hydroxy esters. This hydroxylation can also be effected with MoOPh, which is much less reactive than 1 but slightly more stereoselective. In general 1 is preferred to MoOPh because of the higher yields. 

The antibiotic ( + )-kjellmanianone (2) has been prepared by asymmetric hydroxylation of the sodium enolate of the P-keto ester 1 with several (camphoryl)oxaziri-dines. The highest enantioselectivity (68.5% ee) was obtained by use of the p-(trifluoromethyl)benzyl derivative 3.3... 

L. Dorow, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1985, 107, 4346, for oxaziridine-mediated asymmetric hydroxylation of chiral ester enolates. 

Terminal epoxides of high enantiopurity are among the most important chiral building blocks in enantioselective synthesis, because they are easily opened through nucleophilic substitution reactions. Furthermore, this procedure can be scaled to industrial levels with low catalyst loading. Chiral metal salen complexes have also been successfully applied to the asymmetric hydroxylation of C H bonds, asymmetric oxidation of sulfides, asymmetric aziridination of alkenes, and the asymmetric alkylation of keto esters to name a few. 

The asymmetric hydroxylation of ester enolates with N-sulfonyloxaziridines has been less fully studied. Stereoselectivities are generally modest and less is known about the factors influencing the molecular recognition. For example, (/J)-methyl 2-hydroxy-3-phenylpropionate (10) is prepared in 85.5% ee by oxidizing the lithium enolate of methyl 3-phenylpropionate with (+)-( ) in the presence of HMPA (eq 13). Like esters, the hydroxylation of prochiral amide enolates with N-sulfonyloxaziridines affords the corresponding enantiomerically enriched a-hydroxy amides. Thus treatment of amide (11) with LDA followed by addition of (+)-( ) produces a-hydroxy amide (12) in 60% ee (eq 14). Improved stereoselectivities were achieved using double stereodifferentiation, e.g., the asymmetric oxidation of a chiral enolate. For example, oxidation of the lithium enolate of (13) with (—)-(1) (the matched pair) affords the a-hydroxy amide in 88-91% de (eq 15). (+)-(Camphorsulfonyl)oxaziridine (1) mediated hydroxylation of the enolate dianion of (/J)-(14) at —100 to —78 °C in the presence of 1.6 equiv of LiCl gave an 86 14 mixture of syn/anti-(15) (eq 16). The syn product is an intermediate for the C-13 side chain of taxol. 

Oxidation of the dienolate of (17) with (+)-( ) affords a-hydroxy ester (18), a key intermediate in the enantioselective synthesis of the antibiotic echinosporin (eq 19) whereas oxidation of enolates derived from 1,3-dioxin vinylogous ester (19) gives rise to both a - and y-hydroxylation depending on the reaction conditions (eq 20). With (+)-( ) the lithium enolate of (19) gives primarily the a -hydroxylation product (20), while the sodium enolate gives )/-hydroxylation product (21). Only low levels of asymmetric induction (ca. 16% ee) are found in these oxidations. Birch reduction products are also asymmetrically hydroxylated in situ by (+)-( ) (eq 21). ... 

Dihydrooxazoles continue to occupy an important place in organic synthesis and medicinal chemistry as they have found use as versatile synthetic intermediates, protecting groups/pro-drugs for carboxylic acids, and chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric synthesis. There are several protocols in the literature for the transformations of functional groups such as acids, esters, nitriles, hydroxyl amides, aldehydes, and alkenes to 2-oxazolines. Newer additions to these methods feature greater ease of synthesis and milder conditions. 

Asymmetric hydroxylation of lithium enolates of esters and amides, Hydroxylation of typical enolates of esters with ( + )- and (-)-l is effected in 75-90% yield and with 55-85% ee. The reaction with amide enolates with ( + )- and ( —)-l results in the opposite configuration to that obtained with ester enolates and with less enantioselectivity. Steric factors appear to predominate over metal chelation. 

Asymmetric hydroxylation of etiolates. Davis and Chen1 have reviewed this reaction using in particular (R,R)- and (S,S)-2-phenylsulfonyl)-3-phcnyloxaziridene (1) and (camphorylsulfonyl)oxaziridine (2). Of these reagents, 1 and ( + )- and (—)-2, derived from (lR)-lO-camphorsulfonic acid, provide highest enantioselectivity and in addition are easy to prepare. They are effective for hydroxylatation of ketones, esters, /2-keto esters, amides, lactones, and lactams. 

Azirines can be prepared in optically enriched form by the asymmetric Neber reaction mediated by Cinchona alkaloids. Thus, ketoxime tosylates 173, derived from 3-oxocarhoxylic esters, are converted to the azirine carboxylic esters 174 in the presence of a large excess of potassium carbonate and a catalytic amount of quinidine. The asymmetric bias is believed to be conferred on the substrate by strong hydrogen bonding via the catalyst hydroxyl group <96JA8491>. 

Yang12 has effected an intramolecular asymmetric carbonyl-ene reaction between an alkene and an a-keto ester. Reaction optimization studies were performed by changing the Lewis acid, solvent, and chiral ligand. Ligand-accelerated catalysis was observed for Sc(OTf)3, Cu(OTf)2, and Zn(OTf)2 (Equation (6)). The resulting optically active m-l-hydroxyl-2-allyl esters provide an entry into multiple natural products. 

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