Oxiranes synthesis from alkenes

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). 

Carbon-Oxygen Bond Formation. CAN is an efficient reagent for the conversion of epoxides into /3-nitrato alcohols. 1,2-cA-Diols can be prepared from alkenes by reaction with CAN/I2 followed by hydrolysis with KOH. Of particular interest is the high-yield synthesis of various a-hydroxy ketones and a-amino ketones from oxiranes and aziridines, respectively. The reactions are operated under mild conditions with the use of NBS and a catalytic amount of CAN as the reagents (eq 25). In another case, N-(silylmethyl)amides can be converted to A-(methoxymethyl)amides by CAN in methanol (eq 26). This chemistry has found application in the removal of electroauxiliaries from peptide substrates. Other CAN-mediated C-0 bondforming reactions include the oxidative rearrangement of aryl cyclobutanes and oxetanes, the conversion of allylic and tertiary benzylic alcohols into their corresponding ethers, and the alkoxylation of cephem sulfoxides at the position a to the ester moiety. 

Starting materials, like 141, which are accessible from alkenes by azido-selenenylation, afforded only in a few cases vinyl azides exclusively as shown by the example 141 142 (Scheme 5.19). In most cases, after oxidation of the vicinal phenylseleno azides and elimination reaction on the intermediate selenoxide, mixtures of allyl and vinyl azides were obtained. Ring opening of trialkylsilyl-substituted epoxides was utilized several times for stereoselective synthesis of vinyl azides. Thus, treatment of the frani -contigured oxiranes 143 with azidotrimethylsilane and boron trifluoride etherate yielded cis-conflgured products 145. This result was explained by the intermediate 144 which should undergo anti-elimination. On the other hand, when subjected to sodium azide in dimethylformamide, epoxides 146 were transformed into vinyl azides 148 via... 

Racemic analogs of showdomycin have been synthesized from adducts (352 and 353) of methyl 2-nitroacrylate with furan. Synthesis of DL-2-ept-showdomycin involved treatment of the adducts with m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid, followed by nitrous acid elimination, to give the alkenic epoxide 379. Opening of the oxirane ring, and a sub-... 

Conventional texts on organic chemistry are usually divided into chapters corresponding to compound types, chemical reactions, synthetic methods, etc. From the viewpoint of synthesis, this traditional classification should be supplemented by consideration of the specific aspects of synthetic relationships i.e. into what a given compound can be converted and from what it can be obtained, in other words, its place in the solution of synthetic tasks. For example, in accordance with conventional classification, alkenes, alkynes, cyclopropanes, and oxiranes fall into substantially different and rather distant taxons of organic chemistry systematics. These classes traditionally are treated as independent and only remotely related areas of organic chemistry. However,... 

In contrast with other electrophilic additions, the peracid epoxidation is syn-stereospecific. With sterically strongly hindered alkenes the reaction takes place on the less sterically hindered side. In other cases, the stereochemistry of the reaction is affected by polar effects or the geometry of the transition state. Important conclusions regarding the mechanism of the reaction can be drawn from the steric pathways in the synthesis of the oxiranes. This has been dealt with comprehensively by Berti, who reviewed the topic up to 1971, with special emphasis on the peracid oxidation. A noteworthy account of the topic of peracid epoxidation is given in a review by Rebek. ... 

Alcohols can be obtained from many other classes of compounds such as alkyl halides, amines, al-kenes, epoxides and carbonyl compounds. The addition of nucleophiles to carbonyl compounds is a versatile and convenient methc for the the preparation of alcohols. Regioselective oxirane ring opening of epoxides by nucleophiles is another important route for the synthesis of alcohols. However, stereospe-cific oxirane ring formation is prerequisite to the use of epoxides in organic synthesis. The chemistry of epoxides has been extensively studied in this decade and the development of the diastereoselective oxidations of alkenic alcohols makes epoxy alcohols with definite configurations readily available. Recently developed asymmetric epoxidation of prochiral allylic alcohols allows the enantioselective synthesis of 2,3-epoxy alcohols. 

Most of the examples of seleniranes and telluriranes shown as the unstable intermediates in the organic synthesis are derived from oxiranes. As discussed previously in Section 1.07.6.2, seleno-cyanate anions react with epoxides at room temperature to deposit selenium via the selenirane intermediate and form the corresponding alkenes. On the other hand, triphenylphosphine selenide and trifluoroacetic acid constitute an effective and mild combination of reagents for carrying out the deoxygenation of epoxides (67) to alkenes via cyclic intermediate (68) (Scheme 12) <73CC253>. 

Oxirans. - The synthesis of l,2-anhydro-3,4-di-0-benzyl-6-deoxy-a-D-glucopyranose and its conformational analysis have been reported. A range of epoxides have been prepared by base treatment of bromohydrins, which were made by reaction of hydrogen bromide with aldonolactones. A one-pot conversion of vicinal diols into epoxides employs halohydrin ester intermediates generated from cyclic orthoacetates and either acetyl bromide or trimethylsilyl chloride. Levoglucosenone has been transformed into l,6 3,4-dianhydro-p-D-talopyranose by way of a trn/w-iodo-acetoxylation of the alkene moiety... 

Oxirans.—A simple four-stage preparation of (5)-propylene oxide from ethyl L-( —)-maleate has been described (Scheme 2). This work is of importance for the synthesis of nonactin carboxylic acid. Another synthesis of optically-active propylene oxide involves the cyclization of OL-propylene chlorohydrin with a variety of bases in the presence of a cobalt complex the highest optical purity was 27%. Wynberg and co-workers have shown that the base-catalysed epoxidation of electron-poor alkenes is subject to catalytic asymmetric induction hydrogen peroxide and t-butyl hydroperoxide were used as oxidants in the presence of quaternary... 

Improvements in available methodology for the oxidation of alkenes to oxirans have been described. Glycidol can be obtained in 90% yield by heating allyl alcohol with cumene hydroperoxide at 110 °C using vanadium oxychloride as catalyst. Oxidation of isoprene with peroxyformic acid gave an 80% crude yield of the vinyl oxiran, which was treated with lithium chloride and cupric chloride to give the useful synthon (15), a key intermediate in the synthesis of vitamin A from j3-ionone. This modified synthesis employs a hitherto unprecedented oxidative chlorination of a vinyl oxiran (Scheme 4). Previously, the best known method for the oxidation... 

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