REACTIONS OF VICINAL DIOLS

Vicinal diols also occur in which the OH groups are tram. Net anti dihydroxylation occurs in a multistep process with an epoxide intermediate. The acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of epoxides yields a ring-opened product by Sj 2 attack of the nucleophihc water molecule on the protonated epoxide. We will discuss the ring-opening reactions of expoxides in the next chapter. 

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Neumann, H, Reaction of vicinal diols and dimethylformamide dimethyl acetal. New method for... 

A similar reaction of vicinal diol monoacetates promoted by alanes has been reported." Higher temperatures are needed with these substrates, and in some instances the rearrangement product (ketone) was alkylated (or alkynylated) by the alane promoter. The use of Et2AlSPh avoided this complication. 

A reaction characteristic of vicinal diols is their oxidative cleavage on treatment with periodic acid (HIO4) The carbon-carbon bond of the vicinal diol unit is broken and two carbonyl groups result Periodic acid is reduced to iodic acid (HIO3)... 

The reaction is based, on the one hand, on the oxidative cleavage of vicinal diols by lead(IV) acetate and, on the other hand, on the reaction of dichlorofluorescein with lead(IV) acetate to yield a nonfluorescent oxidation product. The dichlorofluorescein only maintains its fluorescence in the chromatogram zones where the lead(IV) acetate has been consumed by the glycol cleavage reaction [1],... 

Disulfonate esters of vicinal diols sometimes undergo reductive elimination on treatment with sodium iodide in acetone at elevated temperature and pressure (usually l(X)-200°). This reaction derived from sugar chemistry has been used occasionally with steroids, principally in the elimination of 2,3-dihy-droxysapogenin mesylates. The stereochemistry of the substituents and ring junction is important, as illustrated in the formation of the A -olefins (133) and (134). 

Epoxides are easily attacked by trifluoroacetic anhydride. The reactions lead to diesters of vicinal diols and monoesters of unsaturated allylic alcohols in ratios depending on the reaction conditions [24] (equation 13). 

In theory, periodate oxidation could have given a clear-cut answer as to the composition of the isomeric mixture of deoxy ribose phosphates. The 4-phosphate (73), devoid of vicinal diol groups, should be resistant to periodate the 3-phosphate (74) should reduce one and only one molar equivalent of the oxidant and yield one molar equivalent of both formaldehyde and the phosphorylated dialdehyde (75), whereas the 5-phosphate (76) could be expected to reduce one molar equivalent of periodate relatively rapidly, followed by a slower overoxidation reaction owing to the oxidation of malonaldehyde, formed as a result of the glycol cleavage. 

B. Reactions in Which Neither Leaving Atom is Hydrogen 17-17 Deoxygenation of Vicinal Diols... 

We have developed an efficient and practical method for clean oxidation of starch (21-23) resulting in the oxidation of primary alcohol function in Ce position and the cleavage of vicinal diols in C2 and C3 position (Figure 30.2). We used small amounts of cheap iron tetrasulfophthalocyanine catalyst, pure water as reaction medium and H2O2 as clean oxidant to achieve a one-pot conversion of starch resulting in the introduction of aldehyde and carboxyl functions in polymer chains. The iron content... 

The reaction of Pt(C03)(dppp)] with a modest excess of vicinal diols in CH2C12 solution affords the corresponding [Pt(a,/3-diolato)(dppp)] species under equilibrium conditions, a reaction that is readily reversed by the addition of dry ice to the product. The reaction with triols such as glycerol and alditol carbohydrates also affords the corresponding diolato species, with the reaction exhibiting excellent equilibrium regioselectivities for a number of isomers, of which the 7, 6-threo diols are the most favored. 

Mechanisms involving glycol bond fission have been proposed for the oxidation of vicinal diols, and hydride transfer for other diols in the oxidation of diols by bromine in acid solution.The kinetics of oxidation of some five-ring heterocyclic aldehydes by acidic bromate have been studied. The reaction of phenothiazin-5-ium 3-amino-7-dimethylamino-2-methyl chloride (toluidine blue) with acidic bromate has been studied. Kinetic studies revealed an initial induction period before the rapid consumption of substrate and this is accounted for by a mechanism in which bromide ion is converted into the active bromate and hyperbromous acid during induction and the substrate is converted into the demethylated sulfoxide. 

A new synthesis of olefins by the reductive deoxygenation of vicinal diols using tungsten(iv) compounds, e.g. K2[WCl6], has been described. The process appears to be the reverse of the reaction of OsO with olefins and to involve transition state (90) since, in corresponding reactions, M0CI4 only forms... 

An advantage of these enzymes is that they are stereocomplementary, in that they can synthesize the four possible diastereoisomers of vicinal diols from achiral aldehyde acceptors and DHAP (Scheme 4.2). Although this statement is generally used and accepted, it is not completely true since tagatose-l,6-bisphosphate aldolase (TBPA) from Escherichia coli-the only TBPA that has been investigated in terms of its use in synthesis-does not seems to control the stereochemistry of the aldol reaction when aldehydes different from the natural substrate were used as acceptors [7]. However, this situation could be modified soon since it has been demonstrated that the stereochemical course of TBPA-catalyzed C—C bond formation may be modified by enzyme-directed evolution [8]. 

Sodium periodate (sodium metaperiodate), NaI04 (mp 300 °C dec), which is commercially available, is applied mainly in aqueous or aqueous-alcoholic solutions. Like the free periodic acid, sodium periodate cleaves vicinal diols to carbonyl compounds [762], This reaction is especially useful in connection with potassium permanganate [763, 764] or osmium tetroxide [765], Such mixed oxidants oxidize alkenes to carbonyl compounds or carboxylic acids, evidently by way of vicinal diols as intermediates. Sulfides are transformed by sodium periodate into sulfoxides [322, 323, 766, 767, 768, 769, 770, 771, 772], and selenides are converted into selenoxides [773]. Sodium periodate is also a reoxidant of lower valency ruthenium in oxidations with ruthenium tetroxide [567, 774],... 

Both complexes are used in the hydroxylation of double bonds via diacetates or dibenzoates of vicinal diols. The reaction is stereospecific. In anhydrous medium (the Privost reaction [783]), the reaction takes place in the anti mode. In the presence of water (the Woodward modification [783]), the reaction results in a syn addition. The mechanisms of both reactions are shown in the section Hydroxylation of Alkenes and Cycloal-kenes in Chapter 3 see equation 78). 

Acyl esters of vicinal diols are obtained by the reaction of alkenes with metal carboxylates [436]. Lead tetraacetate in acetic acid at 70 °C converts 1,2-dihydronaphthalene to rranj-l,2-diacetoxy-l,2,3,4-tetrahy-dronaphthalene in 72% yield [436]. The reaction is not always stereospecific. Cyclohexene treated with thallium triacetate gives a mixture of diastereomers in varying ratios, depending on reaction conditions, and byproducts as a result of rearrangements (equation 89) [411],... 

The mechanism of the cleavage of vicinal diols can be represented by the reaction of diols with periodic acid, HIO4 or H5IO6 (equation 296). 

While anodic oxidation of simple alcohols is of limited utility, direct oxidation of vicinal diols and related compounds is an excellent method for achieving oxidative cleavage to the corresponding carbonyl or carbonyl-acetal products, as in Eqs. (53) and (54). Unlike certain chemical glycol cleavage reactions, the anodic method is not limited by the stereochemistry of the substrate oxygens [132]. 

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