Prochiral sulfides enantioselective oxidation

The enantioselective oxidation of prochiral sulfides with DMD has been achieved by using bovine serum albumin (BSA) as the chiral inductor Moderate to good enan-tioselectivities have been reported in the presence of this protein, for which a typical example is shown in equation 22 . As yet, however, no enantioselective oxidation of a prochiral sulfide has been documented by employing an optically active dioxirane. We have tried the enantioselective oxidation of methyl phenyl sulfide with the dioxirane generated from the ketone 7 (Shi s ketone), but an ee value of only ca 5% was obtained. One major hurdle that needs to be overcome with such enantioselective dioxirane oxidations is the suppression of the background oxidation of the sulfide substrate by Caroate, an unavoidable feature of the in-situ mode. 

Chiral sulfoxides have emerged as versatile building blocks and chiral auxiliaries in the asymmetric synthesis of pharmaceutical products. The asymmetric oxidation of prochiral sulfides with chiral metal complexes has become one of the most effective routes to obtain these chiral sulfoxides.We have recently developed a new heterogeneous catalytic system (WO3-30% H2O2) which efficiently catalyzes both the asymmetric oxidation of a variety of thioethers (1) and the kinetic resolution of racemic sulfoxides (3), when used in the presence of cinchona alkaloids such as hydroquinidine 2,5-diphenyl-4,6-pyrimidinediyl diether [(DHQD)2-PYR], Optically active sulfoxides (2) are produced in high yields and with good enantioselectivities (Figure 9.3). ... 

The Orsay group found serendipitously that methyl p-tolyl sulfide was oxidized to methyl p-toly 1 sulfoxide with high enantiomeric purity (80-90% ee) when the Sharpless reagent was modified by addition of 1 mole equiv. of water [16,17]. The story of this discovery was described in a review [19], Sharpless conditions gave racemic sulfoxide and sulfone. Careful optimization of the stoichiometry of the titanium complex in the oxidation of p-tolyl sulfide led to the selection of Ti(0iPr)4/(7 ,7 )-DET/H20 (1 2 1) combination as the standard system [ 17]. In the beginning of their investigations, the standard conditions implied a stoichiometric amount of the chiral titanium complex with respect to the prochiral sulfide [16,17,20-23]. Later, proper conditions were found, which decreased the amount of the titanium complex without too much alteration of the enantioselectivity [24,25],... 

Cotton etal. [14] described an asymmetric synthesis of esomeprazole. Esomeprazole, the (S)-enantiomer of omeprazole, was synthesized via asymmetric oxidation of prochiral sulfide 5-methoxy-2-[[(4-methoxy-3,5-dimethyl pyridin-2-yl)methyl]thio]-lH-benzimidazole 1. The asymmetric oxidation was achieved by titanium-mediated oxidation with cumene hydroperoxide in the presence of (S,S)-diethyl tartarate (DET). The enan-tioselectivity was provided by preparing the titanium complex in the presence of sulfide 1 at an elevated temperature and/or during a prolonged preparation time and by performing the oxidation of sulfide 1 in the presence of amine. An enantioselectivity of 94% ee was obtained using this method. 

The development of reactions for the enantioselective oxidation of prochiral sulfides is a formidable synthetic challenge, as sulfides are examples of nonfunc-tionalized substrate. Lacking functional groups, these compounds are unable to... 

Impressive advances have been made in biological sulfoxidation in the last decade.25 The results augur that this approach will be of some synthetic interest in the future, instead of being an intellectual curiosity. Both isolated enzymes and whole cells have been used in the enantioselective oxidation of prochiral sulfides. 

The Orsay system. A good example of serendipity is the discovery by Kagan and co-workers46 at Orsay that 1 mol of water was necessary to produce the active catalyst able to oxidize prochiral sulfides to sulfoxides with high ee. Optimization of the stoichiometry of the titanium complex permitted the determination of the combination Ti(0-i-Pr)4/(/ ,/ )-DET/H20 (1/ 2/ 1) at -20 °C in CH2C12 as the optimal conditions to achieve high enantioselectivity. Table 6 shows some representative results obtained for the oxidation of several thioethers with tert-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) under these conditions.50,51... 

The main methodologies developed until now for enantioselective oxidation of sulfides are effective only in the oxidation of alkyl aryl sulfoxides. Dialkyl sulfoxides on the other hand are generally oxidized with only poor selectivity. In an attempt to solve this problem, Schenk s group69 recently reported a stereoselective oxidation of metal-coordinated thioethers with DMD. The prochiral thioether is first coordinated to a chiral ruthenium complex by reaction with the chloride complexes [CpRu[(S,S)-chiraphos]Cl], 36. Diastereoselective oxygen transfer from DMD produces the corresponding sulfoxides in high yield and selectivity. The chiral sulfoxides 37 are liberated from the complexes by treatment with sodium iodide. Several o.p. aryl methyl sulfoxides have been obtained by this method in moderate to high ee (Scheme 12). 

In addition to the enantioselective preparation of 1,3-dithiane 1 -oxides, our group has been concerned with the development of novel methods for the catalytic asymmetric oxidation of other prochiral sulfides our currently preferred system employs an enantiomerically pure sulfonylimine and commercially available hydrogen peroxide.70... 

Chiral sulfoxides. The Sharpless reagent lor asymmetric epoxidation also effects asymmetric oxidation of prochiral sulfides to sulfoxides. The most satisfactory results are obtained for the stoichiometry Ti(0-(-Pr)4/L DET/H20/(CH,),C00H = 1 2 1 2 for I equiv. of sulfide. In the series of alkyl p-tolyl sulfides, the (R)-sulfoxide is obtained in 41-90% ee the enantioselectivity is highest when the alkyl group is methyl. Methyl phenyl sulfide is oxidized to the (R)-sulfoxide in 81% ee. Even optically active dialkyl sulfoxides can be prepared in 50-71% ee the enantioselectivity is highest for methyl octyl sulfoxide. 

The asymmetric oxidation reaction of prochiral poly(ester 0-sulfide)s to optically active poly(ester 0-sulfoxide)s can be accomplished with almost theoretical chemoselactivity and moderate to high enantioselectivity degrees. While the asymmetric oxidation of prochiral sulfides should not be a preparative method for chiral sulfoxides, we expect that the structure of the parent polymers might be specifically designed for the preparation of chiral thermotropic poly(ester 0-sulfoxi-de)s. 

A platform had been created from which it was felt that the enantioselective sulfoxide synthesis could be developed into a process that would match logistical as well as quality requirements. However, it is important to stress that other variations of the titanium-catalyzed approach had been concomitantly identified but the decision was taken to focus solely on the present option. One of the most important and challenging aspects in this regard was to demonstrate how the oxidation step could be fitted into the existing manufacture of the prochiral sulfide (pyrmetazole) and, if not, what changes or modifications would be needed. This... 

Uemura et al. [103] developed an efficient catalytic and enantioselective oxidation of prochiral sulfides. As in the Kagan system, a titanium(IV) complex is produced in situ from a titanium alkoxide and two / -(-F)-binaphthols (Scheme 1.12) as chiral auxiliaries (in place of diethyl tartrate), in the presence of a large amount of water (more than 1 equivalent). The oxidation of methyl p-tolyl sulfide gives the corresponding sulfoxide in 45 h in 90% yield and 73% ee. 

In another system [118], a prochiral sulfide is chemically converted into an optically active sulfoxide with appreciable enantioselectivity (ee 80%) upon reaction on the surface of a clay-ehelate adduct, A-tris-(l,10-Phenanthroline) nickel(II)-montmorillonite. The sulfide is added to a mixture of methanol/water (3 2) and is absorbed by the adduct. Under these conditions, the oxidation is effective with sodium periodate at room temperature in excellent yield (range of 80-90%) (Table 1.6). 

The most practical method that is used in the industrial synthesis of esomeprazole involves titanium-catalyzed oxidation with an alkyl hydroperoxide, and a dialkyltartrate as chiral ligand, in an organic solvent such as dichloromethane. A variety of oxidoreductases are known to catalyze the enantioselective oxidation of prochiral sulfides, usually as whole-cell biotransformations in aqueous media, but no simple metal complexes have been shown to be effective in water and the development of practical systems employing aqueous hydrogen peroxide as the primary oxidant is still an important challenge. In this context it is worth mentioning the enantioselective sulfoxidation of prochiral sulfoxides catalyzed by the semisynthetic peroxidase, vanadium-phytase, in an aqueous medium. 

TABLE 6.2 Enantioselective Oxidation of Prochiral Aromatic Sulfides Using Chimeric BVMOs... 

The methods described in this chapter are based on the enantioselective deprotonation of alkyl groups in - usually achiral - phosphine derivatives, which provide highly enantioenriched a-carbanions that are versatile precursors of a variety of mono- and diphosphines. This method was developed by combining two known facts firstly, that the methyl group in methylphosphines and their oxides, boranes and sulfides can be deprotonated with strong bases and secondly common organolithium reagents ( -, s- or r-BuLi) can exert enantioselective deprotonations in prochiral substrates in the presence of certain chiral auxiliaries. ... 

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