Oxirane synthesis oxygen

The most important oxirane syntheses are by addition of an oxygen atom to a carbon-carbon double bond, i.e. by the epoxidation of alkenes, and these are considered in Section 5.05.4.2.2. The closing, by nucleophilic attack of oxygen on carbon, of an OCCX moiety is dealt with in Section 5.05.4.2.1 (this approach often uses alkenes as starting materials). Finally, oxirane synthesis from heterocycles is considered in Section 5.05.4.3 one of these methods, thermal rearrangement of 1,4-peroxides (Section 5.05.4.3.2), has assumed some importance in recent years. The synthesis of oxiranes is reviewed in (B-73MI50500) and (64HC(19-1U). 

The outcomes of intramolecular cyclizations of hydroxy vinylepoxides in more complicated systems can be difficult to predict. In a study of the synthesis of the JKLM ring fragment of dguatoxin, epoxide 44 was prepared and subjected to acid-mediated cydization conditions (Scheme 9.24) [114]. Somewhat surprisingly, the expected oxepane 45 was not formed, but instead a mixture of tetrahydropyran 46 and tetrahydrofuran 47 was obtained, both compounds products of attack of the C6 and C5 benzyl ether oxygens, respectively, on the allylic oxirane position (C3). Repetition of the reaction with dimsylpotassium gave a low yield of the desired 45 along with considerable amounts of tetrahydropyran 48. 

Organometallic compounds asymmetric catalysis, 11, 255 chiral auxiliaries, 266 enantioselectivity, 255 see also specific compounds Organozinc chemistry, 260 amino alcohols, 261, 355 chirality amplification, 273 efficiency origins, 273 ligand acceleration, 260 molecular structures, 276 reaction mechanism, 269 transition state models, 264 turnover-limiting step, 271 Orthohydroxylation, naphthol, 230 Osmium, olefin dihydroxylation, 150 Oxametallacycle intermediates, 150, 152 Oxazaborolidines, 134 Oxazoline, 356 Oxidation amines, 155 olefins, 137, 150 reduction, 5 sulfides, 155 Oxidative addition, 5 amine isomerization, 111 hydrogen molecule, 16 Oxidative dimerization, chiral phenols, 287 Oximes, borane reduction, 135 Oxindole alkylation, 338 Oxiranes, enantioselective synthesis, 137, 289, 326, 333, 349, 361 Oxonium polymerization, 332 Oxo process, 162 Oxovanadium complexes, 220 Oxygenation, C—H bonds, 149... 

This section covers the synthesis of aziridines, oxiranes, /J-lactams and oxetanes. Aziridines are fairly important moieties in bioactive molecules and thus new routes for their synthesis are constantly being developed. /1-Lactams are probably the most important heterocyclic compounds that contain a single nitrogen atom, due to their importance in penicillin and cephalosporin chemistry. Their synthesis and chemistry has received much attention and much of this work has been reviewed544. The oxygen-containing heterocycles are much less commonly synthesized from double-bonded functional groups. 

A homogeneous catalytic process, developed by Oxirane, uses a molybdenum catalyst that epoxidizes propylene by transferring an oxygen atom from tertiary butyl hydroperoxide. This is shown by 8.28. The hydroperoxide is obtained by the auto-oxidation of isobutane. The co-product of propylene oxide, /-butanol, finds use as an antiknock gasoline additive. It is also used in the synthesis of methyl /-butyl ether, another important gasoline additive. The over-... 

Ethers (ROR ) may be considered to be the anhydrides of alcohols which are formed by the elimination of water from two alcohols (ROH and R OH). Epoxides (oxiranes) are a sub-set of ethers and share many of their characteristics which are derived from the presence of the oxygen lone pairs. However, their much greater reactivity arising from the strained nature of the three membered ring and their wider use in synthesis means that they are best considered separately. 

A number of authors have reported the acid-catalyzed synthesis of five-membered heterocycles containing nitrogen and oxygen (oxazoles) from oxiranes, with acetonitrile and benzonitrile. The stereochemistry of the reaction has also been dealt with in Refs, 997-999. By the reaction of oxiranes with RSCN in the presence of BF3, alkylthiooxazolines have been obtained (Eq. 205). ... 

The high stereoselectivity has been employed to advantage in prostaglandin precursor synthesis. In the case of electron-acceptor substituents, the attack occurs mainly on the more electrophilic carbon atom. Tetrasubstituted oxiranes do not react, probably because of steric hindrance. The directing effect of the oxygen function has been examined in derivatives of cis- and rrfl s-2-hydroxycyclohexene oxides (Eqs. 257-259). 

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