Osmates

In the laboratory vicinal diols are normally prepared from alkenes using the reagent osmium tetraoxide (OSO4) Osmium tetraoxide reacts rapidly with alkenes to give cyclic osmate esters... 

Osmate esters are fairly stable but are readily cleaved m the presence of an 0x1 dizing agent such as tert butyl hydroperoxide... 

Overall the reaction leads to addition of two hydroxyl groups to the double bond and IS referred to as hydroxylation Both oxygens of the diol come from osmium tetraox ide via the cyclic osmate ester The reaction of OSO4 with the alkene is a syn addition and the conversion of the cyclic osmate to the diol involves cleavage of the bonds between oxygen and osmium Thus both hydroxyl groups of the diol become attached to the same face of the double bond syn hydroxylation of the alkene is observed... 

The residue, which contains Ir, Ru, and Os, is fused with sodium peroxide at 500°C, forming soluble sodium mthenate and sodium osmate. Reaction of these salts with chlorine produces volatile tetroxides, which are separated from the reaction medium by distillation and absorbed into hydrochloric acid. The osmium can then be separated from the mthenium by boiling the chloride solution with nitric acid. Osmium forms volatile osmium tetroxide mthenium remains in solution. Ruthenium and osmium can thus be separately purified and reduced to give the metals. 

Potassium osmate (VI) dibydrate [19718-36-6] M 368.4. Hygroscopic POISONOUS crystals which are soluble in H2O but insol in EtOH and Et20. It decomposes slowly in H2O to form the tetroxide which attacks the eyes. The solid should be kept dry and in this form it is relatively safe. [Synthesis 610 1972.]... 

The cleavage of the intermediate osmate ester has presented problems in the past, and a variety of procedures have been developed, including the use of mannitol and strong aqueous base, refluxing aqueous alcoholic sodium bisulfite,formaldehyde and ascorbic acid. A much milder method involves simply bubbling hydrogen sulfide into a solution of the osmate ester osmium dioxide is precipitated rapidly, and the desired organic... 

Because osmium tetroxide is expensive, and its vapors are toxic, alternate methods have been explored for effecting vic-glycol formation. In the aliphatic series, olefins can be hydroxylated with hydrogen peroxide with the use of only a catalytic amount of osmium tetroxide. Anhydrous conditions are not necessary 30% hydrogen peroxide in acetone or acetone-ether is satisfactory. The intermediate osmate ester is presumably cleaved by peroxide to the glycol with regeneration of osmium tetroxide. When this reaction was tried on a A -steroid, the product isolated was the 20-ketone ... 

Hydroxy-20-cyanohydrins can be oxidized to 3-ketones in good yield with chromic acid, and the osmate ester of the unsaturated nitrile is also stable to this oxidant. " After hydrolysis of the osmate ester, the new 17-hydroxy-20-cyanohydrin which is presumably formed cannot be isolated, but loses hydrogen cyanide during the hydrolysis, and only the 17a-hydroxy-20-ketone is obtained. 

By contrast, dissolution of OSO4 in cold aqueous KOH produces deep-red crystals of K2[0s 04(0H)2] ( perosmate ), which is easily reduced to the purple osmate , K2[0s 02-(0H)4]. The anions in both cases are octahedral with, respectively, trans OH and trans O groups. 

Unfortunately, a serious problem with the osmium tetroxide reaction is that Os04 is both very expensive and very toxic. As a result, the reaction is usually carried out using only a small, catalytic amount of OsO, in the presence of a stoichiometric amount of a safe and inexpensive co-oxidant such as A -methylmorpholine N-oxide, abbreviated NMO. The initially formed osmate intermediate reacts rapidly with NMO to yield the product diol plus... 

Osmate esters are important intermediates in the reactions of 0s04 in the stereospecific m-hydroxylation of alkenes and other unsaturated molecules [182],... 

The most widely used reagent for oxidation of alkenes to glycols is osmium tetroxide. Osmium tetroxide is a highly selective oxidant that gives glycols by a stereospecific syn addition.39 The reaction occurs through a cyclic osmate ester that is formed by a [3 + 2] cycloaddition.40... 

Mono-, di-, and trisubstituted olefins undergo osmium-catalyzed enantioselective dihydroxylation in the presence of the (R)-proline-substituted hydroquinidine 3.9 to give diols in 67-95% yields and in 78-99% ee.75 Using potassium osmate(VI) as the catalyst and potassium carbonate as the base in a tm-butanol/water mixture as the solvent, olefins are dihydroxylated stereo- and enantioselectively in the presence of 3.9 and potassium ferricyanide with sodium chlorite as the stoichiometric oxidant the yields and enantiomeric excesses of the... 

The hydroxylation of alkenes to diols with potassium osmate-oxidant mixtures has been described, with either hydrogen peroxide or sodium chlorate as the oxidant. The sodium chlorate method is not applicable where the diol is to be distilled from the mixture, because of the danger of explosive oxidation of the product diol by the chlorate. 

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