Osmium glycolate

The low rate of reaction for trisubstituted olefins was shown to be a result of slow hydrolysis of the osmium glycolate 29. However, this hydrolysis can be accelerated by a factor of up to 50 simply by the addition of methanesulfonamide.26 This modification permits the AD to be performed at lower temperature, which nearly always results in an increase in the stereoselectivity of the reaction.27... 

In general, the mechanism for the AD reaction is depicted in Figure 1. Coordination of a ligand to osmium tetraoxide 1 generates complex 2. This species then reacts with alkene 3 producing osmium glycolate 4 that can then decompose to the desired 1,2-diols 5 and the reduced osmium species 6. Catalytically active 2 can be regenerated from 6 by an external oxidant, such as ferricyanide. 

Once the osmium( VI) glycolate (5.08) is formed, the catalytic cycle is completed by reoxidation with the stoichiometric oxidant followed by hydrolysis (Figure 5.2). Water is required to hberate the diol from the osmium and methanesulfonamide is often used as an additive, especially when using internal olefins, to increase the rate of this hydrolysis. It has been found that the rate of osmium glycolate hydrolysis is also enhanced under basic conditions. As the basicity of the AD reaction mixture decreases during the reaction, the maintenance of a constant pH of ca. 12, using an automatic titrator, leads to improvement in the reaction rate allowing the methanesulfonamide to be omitted. ... 

Figure 5.1 Possible mechanisms of osmium glycolate formation...

Another method for the hydroxylation of the etliylenic linkage consists in treatment of the alkene with osmium tetroxide in an inert solvent (ether or dioxan) at room temperature for several days an osmic ester is formed which either precipitates from the reaction mixture or may be isolated by evaporation of the solvent. Hydrolysis of the osmic ester in a reducing medium (in the presence of alkaline formaldehyde or of aqueous-alcoholic sodium sulphite) gives the 1 2-glycol and osmium. The glycol has the cis structure it is probably derived from the cyclic osmic ester ... 

The reagent Is expensive and poisonous, consequently the hydroxylation procedure is employed only for the conversion of rare or expensive alkenes (e.g., in the steroid field) into the glycols. Another method for hydroxylation utilises catalytic amounts of osmium tetroxide rather than the stoichiometric quantity the reagent is hydrogen peroxide in tert.-butyl alcohol This reagent converts, for example, cyc/ohexene into cis 1 2- t/ohexanedlol. 

A classical method for the vicinal hydroxylation of a double bond involves treatment with osmium tetroxide to give a cyclic ester, followed by reductive cleavage to the glycol ... 

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 ... 

Diols are applied on a multimilhon ton scale as antifreezing agents and polyester monomers (ethylene and propylene glycol) [58]. In addition, they are starting materials for various fine chemicals. Intimately coimected with the epoxidation-hydrolysis process, dihydroxylation of C=C double bonds constitutes a shorter and more atom-efficient route to 1,2-diols. Although considerable advancements in the field of biomimetic nonheme complexes have been achieved in recent years, still osmium complexes remain the most efficient and reliable catalysts for dihydroxylation of olefins (reviews [59]). 

Chandrasekhar, S., Narsihmulu, C., Sultana, S.S., Reddy, N.R. (2003) Osmium Tetrox-ide in Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) A Recyclable Reaction Medium for Rapid Asymmetric Dihydroxylation Under Sharpless Conditions. Chemical Communications, 1716-1717. 

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... 

Potassium permanganate or osmium tetroxide oxidize alkenes to furnish 1,2-diols (glycols). 

Other functionalized supports that are able to serve in the asymmetric dihydroxylation of alkenes were reported by the groups of Sharpless (catalyst 25) [88], Sal-vadori (catalyst 26) [89-91] and Cmdden (catalyst 27) (Scheme 4.13) [92]. Commonly, the oxidations were carried out using K3Fe(CN)g as secondary oxidant in acetone/water or tert-butyl alcohol/water as solvents. For reasons of comparison, the dihydroxylation of trons-stilbene is depicted in Scheme 4.13. The polymeric catalysts could be reused but had to be regenerated after each experiment by treatment with small amounts of osmium tetroxide. A systematic study on the role of the polymeric support and the influence of the alkoxy or aryloxy group in the C-9 position of the immobilized cinchona alkaloids was conducted by Salvadori and coworkers [89-91]. Co-polymerization of a dihydroquinidine phthalazine derivative with hydroxyethylmethacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate afforded a functionalized polymer (26) with better swelling properties in polar solvents and hence improved performance in the dihydroxylation process [90]. 

Kinetic studies of hexacyanoferrate(III) oxidations have included the much-studied reaction with iodide and oxidation of the TICI2 anion, of hydrazine and hydrazinium, and of phenylhydrazine and 4-bromophenylhydrazine. These last reactions proceed by outer-sphere mechanisms, and conform to Marcus s theory. Catalyzed [Fe(CN)g] oxidations have included chlororuthenium-catalyzed oxidation of cyclohexanol, ruthenium(III)-catalyzed oxidation of 2-aminoethanol and of 3-aminopropanol, ruthenium(VI)-catalyzed oxidation of lactate, tartrate, and glycolate, and osmium(VIII)-catalyzed oxidation of benzyl alcohol and benzylamine. ... 

Fission of carbon-carbon double bonds with the combined use of an osmium catalyst and periodate as a comsumable reagent is an alternative to ozonolysis. In diis process a catalytic amount of osmium is oxidised to osmium(viii) by preiodate and converts the alkene to a glycol which is then cleaved by the periodate. In the electrochemical modification of this process, which uses a divided cell and aque-... 

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