Oxiranes stoichiometric processes

The first example of such a process was reported in 1994 by Asami, who noticed that LDA was less reactive than HCLA 53 toward oxirane and thus proposed its use as a co-base in a catalytic cycle . Based upon this seminal result, the system has been extended to other HCLAs and various co-bases have been tested Selected results for the asymmetric rearrangement of cyclohexene oxide mediated by sub-stoichiometric quantities of HCLA are collected in Table 4. 

Hi. Role of additive. There are some reports in the literature of the beneficial effect of powerful donor solvents such as DBU on the reactivity and enantioselectivity of HCLA-mediated oxirane rearrangements for both stoichiometric and catalytic processes. However, this effect is not general (see above) and the role of such additives is still unclear. In one study, the influence of the concentration of DBU on the relationship between the ee s of catalyst and the product for the enantioselective isomerization of cyclohexene oxide mediated by substoichiometric amount of HCLA 56a (20 mol%) in the presence of LDA (2 equiv) has been investigated. At high DBU concentration (6 equiv), the enantiomeric... 

The difference between a catalytic and a stoichiometric reaction is illustrated by the selective oxidation of ethylene to ethylene epoxide, where we compare the silver-catalyzed ethylene epoxidation with the stoichiometric epichlorohydrine process. Ethylene epoxide (oxirane) has industrial importance as a starter material for the production of ethylene glycol (antifreeze) and many other products (poly ethers, polyurethanes). 

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