Oxiranes carbon nucleophiles

Alkynyl)oxiranes also react with carbon nucleophiles to afford furan derivatives. Furanes of different types are obtained depending on the structure of the substrates. 7-Methyl-2-ethynyloxirane (95) reacts with acetoacetate to give the furan 97 by the elimination of formaldehyde from the cyclized product 96. The hydroxy ester of the alkylidenefuran 98 and the corresponding lactone 99 are obtained by the reaction of i-methyl-2-(2-propynyI)oxirane[40, 42]. 

Nucleophilic attack on oxirane carbon usually proceeds with inversion of configuration (Scheme 44) as expected for Sn2 reactions, even under acid conditions (Scheme 45). Scheme 45 also illustrates the fact that cyclohexene oxides open in a fran5-diaxial manner this is known as the Fiirst-Plattner rule (49HCA275) and there are very few exceptions to it. 

Electron deficient carbon-carbon double bonds are resistant to attack by the electrophilic reagents of Section 5.05.4.2.2(t), and are usually converted to oxiranes by nucleophilic oxidants. The most widely used of these is the hydroperoxide ion (Scheme 79). Since epoxidation by hydroperoxide ion proceeds through an intermediate ct-carbonyl anion, the reaction of acyclic alkenes is not necessarily stereospecific (Scheme 80) (unlike the case of epoxidation with electrophilic agents (Section 5.05.4.2.2(f)) the stereochemical aspects of this and other epoxidations are reviewed at length in (B-73MI50500)). 

The most important oxirane, from an anthropocentric viewpoint, is probably squalene oxide (72), a precursor of lanosterol (73) and thus of the maligned but essential cholesterol (74 Scheme 87) 78MI50501). The cyclization of (72) to (73) represents nucleophilic tr-attack on oxirane carbon cf. Section 5.05.3.4.3(t)()), and the process has also been extensively investigated in vitro (68ACR1). Oxiranes are even more ubiquitous in steroid biosynthesis than had been thought, for a cholesterol epoxide has been shown to be a product of mammalian steroid biosynthesis <81JA6974). 

A 6-endo cyclization by a y-epoxy alcohol can be accomplished through the presence of an appropriately disposed electron-withdrawing group, as found in the total synthesis of (+)-phonomactin. Treatment of the hydroxy-epoxy ketone 30 (R = H) with HC1 afforded the bicyclic compound 31, containing a pyran-4-one ring, in which nucleophilic attack of the y-OH group occurred at the oxirane carbon distal from the unfavorable electronic effect of the carbonyl group (Scheme 8.7) [20a]. 

The procedure is outlined in Scheme 8.33, starting from the generic allylic alcohol 125. SAE on 125 would provide epoxide 126, which could easily be transformed into the unsaturated epoxy ester 127 by oxidation/Horner-Emmonds olefmation (two-carbon extension). This operation makes the oxirane carbon adjacent to the double bond more susceptible to nucleophilic attack by a hydride, so reductive opening (DIBAL) of 127 provides, with concomitant ester reduction, diol 128. Pro-... 

The reaction of oxiranes with carbon nucleophiles provides a general method for the synthesis of B-type branched sugars. Thus, the diaxial ring-opening of methyl 2,3-anhydro-4,6-0-benzylidene-a-L-mannopy-... 

The mechanisms and the regio- and stereo-selectivity of epoxide reactions have been reviewed.39 The review also covers the role of epoxides in biologically important reactions. The achiral and chiral catalysts used in these reactions are discussed. A second review40 discusses the ring-opening reactions of oxiranes with carbon nucleophiles. 

The addition of carbon nucleophiles to alkynyl-substituted oxiranes has been reviewed <2002CUOC539>. The reaction between indoles and oxiranes occurs readily under catalysis using indium(iii) bromide <2002JOC5386>. A related process involves solid-state activation using silica gel to promote the reaction <2005JOC3490>, or... 

The asymmetric ring opening of oxiranes (and aziridines) with carbon nucleophiles has been reviewed by Pineschi <2006EJO4979>. 

---