Osmium tetroxide-pyridine complexes

Osmium Tetroxide-Pyridine. Osmium(VI) tetroxide is one of the most extensively used probes for DNA structure. It is an example of a high-valent transition metal complex which, due to its uniquely reactive center, is able to functionalize specific bonds on DNA. This powerful oxidant is known to form cisoid osmate esters upon attack of an electron-rich double bond. By tuning the reactivity of OSO4 and its esters with the addition of other ligands, it has been possible to generate a family of reactive probes for exposed pyrimidine bases. 

Preparation of dihydroxytiagabine (VII) was accomplished by the method shown in Scheme 29.19. Synthesis of the 9-0-(4 -Methyl-2 -quinolyl) ether of dihydroquinidinol proved difficult in that the central double bond is hindered and proved to be refractory to attack by reagents such as m-chloroperbenzoic acid and hydrogen peroxide. The putative epoxide was not detected under a variety of reaction conditions a complex mixture of products was always obtained. Reaction with osmium tetroxide/pyridine/V-methylmorpholine-V-oxide was slow and yielded the requisite diol in low yield, but extraction of the product from water proved to be a problem. 

The first attempt to effect the asymmetric cw-dihydroxylation of olefins with osmium tetroxide was reported in 1980 by Hentges and Sharpless.54 Taking into consideration that the rate of osmium(VI) ester formation can be accelerated by nucleophilic ligands such as pyridine, Hentges and Sharpless used 1-2-(2-menthyl)-pyridine as a chiral ligand. However, the diols obtained in this way were of low enantiomeric excess (3-18% ee only). The low ee was attributed to the instability of the osmium tetroxide chiral pyridine complexes. As a result, the naturally occurring cinchona alkaloids quinine and quinidine were derived to dihydroquinine and dihydroquinidine acetate and were selected as chiral... 

In summary, the reaction of osmium tetroxide with alkenes is a reliable and selective transformation. Chiral diamines and cinchona alkakoid are most frequently used as chiral auxiliaries. Complexes derived from osmium tetroxide with diamines do not undergo catalytic turnover, whereas dihydroquinidine and dihydroquinine derivatives have been found to be very effective catalysts for the oxidation of a variety of alkenes. OsC>4 can be used catalytically in the presence of a secondary oxygen donor (e.g., H202, TBHP, A -methylmorpholine-/V-oxide, sodium periodate, 02, sodium hypochlorite, potassium ferricyanide). Furthermore, a remarkable rate enhancement occurs with the addition of a nucleophilic ligand such as pyridine or a tertiary amine. Table 4-11 lists the preferred chiral ligands for the dihydroxylation of a variety of olefins.61 Table 4-12 lists the recommended ligands for each class of olefins. 

This new process has one unexpected benefit the rates and turnover numbers are increased substantially with the result that the amount of the toxic and expensive 0s04 is considerably reduced (usually 0.002 mole %). The rate acceleration is attributed to formation of an Os04-alkaloid complex, which is more reactive than free osmium tetroxide. Increasing the concentration of 1 or 2 beyond that of 0s04 produces only negligible increase in the enantiomeric excess of the diol. In contrast quinuclidine itself substantially retards the catalytic reaction, probably because it binds too strongly to osmium tetroxide and inhibits the initial osmylation. Other chelating tertiary amines as well as pyridine also inhibit the catalytic process. 

The stoichiometric enantioselective reaction of alkenes and osmium tetroxide was reported in 1980 by Hentges and Sharpless [17], As pyridine was known to accelerate the reaction, initial efforts concentrated on the use of pyridine substituted with chiral groups, such as /-2-(2-menthyl)pyridine but e.e. s were below 18%. Besides, it was found that complexation was weak between pyridine and osmium. Griffith and coworkers reported that tertiary bridgehead amines, such as quinuclidine, formed much more stable complexes and this led Sharpless and coworkers to test this ligand type for the reaction of 0s04 and prochiral alkenes. 

Osmium tetroxide forms various complexes with donor molecules under varying conditions. For example, with pyridine(py) it forms a bridged complex, [(py)0s02(p-0)]2. ... 

Miscellaneous. Aside from the oxidation chemistry described, only a few catalytic applications are reported, including hydrogenation of olefins (114,115), a, [3-unsaturated carbonyl compounds (116), and carbon monoxide (117) and the water gas shift reaction (118). This is so owing to the kinetic inertness of osmium complexes. A 1% by weight osmium tetroxide solution is used as a biological stain, particulady for preparation of samples for electron microscopy. In the presence of pyridine or other heterocyclic amines it is used as a selective reagent for single-stranded or open-form B-DNA (119) (see Nucleic acids). Osmium tetroxide has also been used as an indicator for unsaturated fats in animal tissue. Osmium tetroxide has seen limited if controversial use in the treatment of arthritis (120,121). 

Trimethylsilyldiazomethane, 327 Silyl substituted arenes Bis(trimethylsilyl)acetylene, 97 Chromium carbene complexes, 82 Titanium(IV) chloride-Diethylalu-minum chloride, 309 Other organosilanes Osmium tetroxide-Trimethylamine N-oxide-Pyridine, 223 Tributyltin chloride, 315 Di- x-carbonylhexacarbonyldicobalt, 99 Trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesul-fonate, 329... 

In a second paper Criegee reported that pyridine markedly catalyzes the reaction of osmium tetroxide with an olefin and that an osmate ester combines with 2 molecules of pyridine to form a complex which can be crystallized from methylene... 

Criegee was the first to report that certain tertiary amines such as pyridine accelerate the reaction between osmium tetroxide and an alkene [3] and that the products formed were monomeric osmium(VI)-glycolate bispyridine complexes (3, NR3=py, n=2) [4]. It was later shown that the number of amine ligands in the osmium(VI)-glycolate complexes is dependent upon the nature of the amine employed when quinuclidine (l-azabicyclo[2.2.2]octane) which has strong affinity for osmium tetroxide, is used as tertiary base, monoquinuclidine complexes are formed (3, NR3=quinuclidine,n=l) [5]. 

In the absence of tertiary amines, osmium tetroxide reacts with alkenes via 1,3-dipolar addition to generate a monomeric Os(VI) ester such as 252,352 where L is a ligand that can be a solvent molecule or an added substrate such as pyridine. Sharpless et al. proposed that hydroxylation proceeds by an allowed [2-1-2]- cycloaddition reaction, producing an Os(VII) intermediate, followed by reductive insertion of the Os—C bond into an Os=0 bond.353 This complex can be decomposed in aqueous or alcoholic solution, but the hydrolysis is... 

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