Hydroxylation by osmium tetroxide

Olefins can be oxidized stereospecifically to cz,y-a glycols by aqueous potassium chlorate solutions118 or, better, silver chlorate solutions119 if a little osmium tetroxide is added (Hofmann). The method is suitable mainly for conversion of water-soluble olefins into glycols and cannot be used for water-insoluble olefins.120,121 

Osmic esters of type (I) are intermediates in Hofmann oxidation of olefins and they have been isolated by Criegee.122 They are cleaved to glycols by 

There is a preparative advantage in hydrolysing the osmic ester by aqueous-alcoholic sodium sulfite solution, for then the osmium is precipitated as sparingly soluble sulfite complex. 

Criegee in G. M. Schwab, Handbuch der Katalyse, Springer-Verlag, Vienna, 1943, Vol. 7, Part 1, p. 597. 

Preparatively the last method is carried out by shaking the powdered solid pyridine compound with an aqueous-alcoholic solution of mannitol (2 moles of KOH and 2 moles of mannitol per atom of osmium) until there is complete dissolution or the pyridine compound is first dissolved in methylene dichloride (or chloroform) and then shaken with the alkaline mannitol solution until the methylene chloride solution is completely decolorized. Yields of diol are usually excellent. Since warming is not involved, side reactions rarely occur. The method is particularly important in the steroid field.125 

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Otsuka K-76, a fungal product with strong anticomplement activity, was synthesized from the A/B bicyclic precursor of stemodin. The aromatic subunit was retrosynthetically disconnected to a symmetrical precursor. A surprising non-selectivity of olefinic hydroxylation by osmium tetroxide was noted. 

The Hofmann degradation product CCXXXIX was hydroxylated by osmium tetroxide to give a diol which on treatment with methyl p-... 

Under stoichiometric and common catalytic osmylation conditions, alkene double bonds are hydroxylated by osmium tetroxide without affecting other functional groups such as hydroxyl groups, aldehyde and ketone carbonyl groups, acetals, triple bonds, and sulfides (see also Osmium Tetraxide-N-Methylmorpholine N-Oxide). 

There are also reactions which show stereoselectivity primarily because of mechanism rather than spatial bias of substrate. For instance, the conversion of an olefin to a 1,2-diol by osmium tetroxide mechanistically is a cycloaddition process which is strictly suprafacial. The hydroxylation transform has elements of both substrate and mechanism control, as illustrated by the retrosynthetic conversion of 146 to 147. The validity of the retrosynthetic removal of both... 

Selective hydroxylation with osmium tetroxide (one equivalent in ether-pyridine at 0 ) converts (27) to a solid mixture of stereoisomeric diols (28a) which can be converted to the corresponding secondary monotoluene-sulfonate (28b) by treatment with /7-toluenesulfonyl chloride in methylene dichloride-pyridine and then by pinacol rearrangement in tetrahydrofuran-lithium perchlorate -calcium carbonate into the unconjugated cyclohepte-none (29) in 41-48 % over-all yield from (27). Mild acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of the ketal-ketone (29) removes the ketal more drastic conditions by heating at 100° in 2 hydrochloric acid for 24 hr gives the conjugated diketone (30). 

The total synthesis of ( )-geissoschizine (30) was reported by Yamada et al. (156) in 1974. The geometrically pure p-nitrophenyl ester 272 was condensed with tryptamine, and then the resulting amide 273 was transformed to lactam aldehyde 274 by hydroxylation with osmium tetroxide, metaperiodate oxidation, and Pictet-Spengler cyclization. 

Another familiar example of the reaction proceeding in cis fashion is the hydroxylation of alkenes which occurs by osmium tetroxide or by the action of KMn04. 

The cis form has been prepared by the syn hydroxylation of cyclopentene by osmium tetroxide as follows ... 

The first useful asymmetric synthesis with a-halo boronic esters utilized (S)-pinanediol [1S-(la,2/1.3//,5a)]-2,6,6-trimethylbicyclo[3.1.1]heptane-2,3-diol as the chiral director39,40. This diol is easily prepared from ( + )-a-pinene by a catalytic hydroxylation with osmium tetroxide, and its enantiomer (i )-pinanediol is available from (-)-(a)-pinene41,42. Pinanediol esters remain useful in view of their excellent stability as well as the ease of preparation of the diol. and their stereoselectivity is very high even though it is no longer the state of the art. 

The cis- 1,2-glycols, obtainable from the parent aromatic hydrocarbon by osmium tetroxide hydroxylation, can be converted to the corresponding trans-1,2-glycols by oxidation-reduction, using a mixture of dimethyl sulfoxide, sulfur trioxide, and pyridine, followed by lithium aluminum hydride reduction. The trans- 1,2-glycols can be dehydrated to arene oxides using DMF-DMA as mentioned above. Benzo[a]pyrene 4,5-oxide (28) and 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene 5,6-oxide (30) have been prepared by this method in 68 and 80% yields, respectively.18... 

The classical diene synthesis has been used for building the six-membered ring in the preparation of a/to-inositol by Criegee and Becher.36 trans, trans-Diacetoxybutadiene (XVI) and vinylene carbonate (XVII) condensed at 205-210° to an addition product (XVIII). Hydroxylation of this compound by osmium tetroxide, followed by hydrolysis, gave aWo-inositol the bulky osmium tetroxide approaches from the unhindered side of the molecule and the other possible product of the hydroxylation, m-inositol, is not formed.4 trans-Hydroxy 1 ation of XVIII would give epi-inositol. 

The stereochemistry of the product of a reaction will be influenced by the structures of the reagent and substrate and the mechanisms by which they react. For example, the hydroxylation of but-2-ene by osmium tetroxide and water yields a racemate whilst bromination of the same compound with bromine produces a meso compound (Figure 10.5). Flowever, a stereoselective reaction is most likely to occur when steric hindrance at the reaction centre restricts the approach of the reagent to one direction (Figure 10.6). Furthermore, the action of both enzyme and non-enzyme catalysts may also be used to introduce specific stereochemical centres into a molecule. 

The regio- and stereochemistry of the cycloadduct was determined by H-NMR spectroscopy68. Further transformations, involving cis hydroxylation with osmium tetroxide and reductive cleavage of the N-O bond, performed with Raney nickel at 40 °C, lead after acetylation, to an ( )-aminoallose derivative67,127. 

Hydroxylation by hydrogen peroxide in t-butyl alcohol solution is catalyzed by osmium tetroxide. The catalyst is volatile and dangerous to handle but is conveniently used in a solution of the tertiary alcohol. The yields of diols are usually low (30-60%), and the process has not been adapted to large-scale preparations. In contrast to hydroxylation by performic acid, this procedure leads to cis addition of the two hydroxyl groups to the double bond. An extensive study of other catalysts has been made. Some catalysts, e.g., selenium dioxide and pertungstic acid, catalyze addition in the trans direction. Hydroxylation of cyclopentadiene takes place in the 1,4-positions to give 2-cyclopenten-l,4-diol. ... 

A THC and other active constituents are believed to be metabolically converted to substances oxidized at C(7), and this oxidation has been carried out by osmium tetroxide hydroxylation of A THC (333) and subsequent removal of the tertiary hydroxy-group (Scheme 20). The isomerization of the double bond to A THC is most conveniently carried out by photo-isomerization in propan-2-ol and xylene for 14 days, " although a second method is available that depends on an El elimination reaction of the hydrogen chloride adduct of A THC, using a sterically hindered base (after blocking the phenolic hydroxy-group). ... 

Dihydroxylation of hindered double bonds.1 The tx-pinene derivative 1 (Nopol) is hydroxylated in low yield by osmium tetroxide and f-butyl hydroperoxide. Hydroxylation is effected in 62% yield by use of 0s04 in combination with trimethylamine N-oxide as oxidant and pyridine as base. This method is generally suitable for hindered alkenes (yields 78-93%). 

The second method uses the pregnane derivative XI as a starting material. This compound, on hydroxylation with osmium tetroxide, afforded the diol Xlla. This diol was then converted to the androstane analogue X. The same approach was independently published also by Hondo and Mori (3). As a by-product of hydroxylation of olefin XI with osmium tetroxide, we obtained 2B,3B-diol XIV and, from this, the lactone XV. However, when we treated XII (a corresponding diacetate, respectively) with trifluoroperacetic acid we found that oxidation of the side chain surprisingly proceeded much faster than oxidation of the B ring. Thus we obtained not only compound X but also an intermediate, compound XHIb, and on hydrolysis compound Xllla, that is the androstane analogue of castasterone ... 

Osmium tetroxide [1, 759-764, before references]. On oxidation of gibberellin A14 dimethyl ester (1) with osmium tetroxide in pyridine, followed by sodium periodate, Cross13 obtained the expected norketone (2) as the major product but also isolated a small quantity of (3), a product of further oxidation of the secondary hydroxyl group present. A footnote states that several similar examples of the oxidation of secondary alcohols by osmium tetroxide have been encountered. ... 

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