Reduction allylic hydroperoxides

Danishefsky dienes [98] cycloadd to Cjq in refluxing toluene or benzene [5, 38, 99-101]. The diene 103 adds in 60% yield to Cjq to give the desilylated ketone 104 [5,101]. Acid-catalyzed methanol elimination then furnishes the enone 105 in 82% yield (Scheme 4.17). As already described, this enone can be reduced by DIBAL-H to the corresponding alcohol for further functionalization. The same a,(3-un-saturated alcohol can also be obtained in better yield by Diels-Alder reaction of Cg0 with butadiene, followed by oxidation with singlet oxygen to the allylic hydroperoxide and PPhj reduction to the desired alcohol [101]. This sequence yields the allylic alcohol in 53%, starting from Cjq without the need of isolating intermediates. 

Rose oxide is usually prepared from citronellol which can be converted into a mixture of two allyl hydroperoxides (e.g., by photosensitized oxidation with oxygen). Reduction of the hydroperoxides with sodium sulfite yields the corresponding diols [183]. Treatment with dilute sulfuric acid results in allylic rearrangement and spontaneous cyclization of one of the isomers a mixture of diastereoisomeric rose oxides is thus formed. The unreacted diol isomer is separated by distillation. (—)-Citronellol as the starting material yields approximately a 1 1 mixture of (—)-cis- and (—)-tra s-rose oxide. 

Mechanistically, the reaction is explained as an ene-type reaction involving a concerted electron shift (see 28) forming an allylic hydroperoxide and direct hydride reduction of 29 gives rise to the diallylic alcohol 11. 

The low regioselectivity of the enc reaction of singlet oxygen with mono-alkenes can also be improved by incorporation of trialkylsilyl groups at a vinylic position. Thus, simple vinyl-silanes afforded, after photooxygenation and reduction, regioselectively, /1-silyl allylic alcohols35. The diastereoseleclivity of the titanium-catalyzed reaction of the /1-silyl allylic hydroperoxides is described in Section 4.9.4.2. 

The classical method for the synthesis of epoxy alcohols is the epoxidation of allylic alcohols, the latter accessible by reduction of allylic hydroperoxides or other more traditional methods. One of the most valuable reactions for preparative purposes is the Sharpless method82 83, in which, for chiral allylic alcohols, the epoxy alcohols are produced diastereoselectively and, in the presence of chiral ligands, also in high enantioselectivity (see Section D.4.5.1.). 

During the conversion of alkenes into epoxy alcohols by allylic oxidation with singlet oxygen, an oxygen atom is usually removed from the allylic hydroperoxide by reduction, only to be subsequently reintroduced in the resulting epoxy alcohol by epoxidation with an external oxygen donor. 

In dilute solutions of aprotic solvents (hexane, chloroform) allylic hydroperoxides undergo a [2,3] sigmatropic rearrangement to form either an equilibrium mixture of allylic isomers or the thermodynamically more stable allylic hydroperoxides1 -3. The allylic alcohols were obtained by reduction of the hydroperoxides [P(C6H5)3, LiAlH4 see also Section D.4.9.]. 

Ally lie alcohols are obtained from allylic hydroperoxides by treatment with alkalies [22] or by reduction with sulfites [27], They are also formed... 

Alkenes may be transformed into an allyl hydroperoxide which, upon reduction (e.g. by sodium borohydride), yields an allylic alcohol (Eq. 2-7). In living systems, the formation of lipid peroxides is believed to be involved in some serious diseases and malfunctions including arteriosclerosis and cancer. 

Two carbonyl fragments could also be formed on acid-catalyzed hydrolysis of the aUyhc hydroperoxides that mostly proceeds through Hock-type fragmentation. AUyHc alcohols obtained by reduction of the corresponding allylic hydroperoxides are versatile building blocks with diverse synthetic utility they could also be either regioselectively dehydrated to l,3-dienes or oxidized to a,P-unsaturated ketones. The ene-reaction was also utilized in the synthesis of some natural products and diastereoselective allene derivatives. ... 

Applications of peroxide formation are underrepresented in chiral synthetic chemistry, most likely owing to the limited stability of such intermediates. Lipoxygenases, as prototype biocatalysts for such reactions, display rather limited substrate specificity. However, interesting functionalizations at allylic positions of unsaturated fatty acids can be realized in high regio- and stereoselectivity, when the enzymatic oxidation is coupled to a chemical or enzymatic reduction process. While early work focused on derivatives of arachidonic acid chemical modifications to the carboxylate moiety are possible, provided that a sufficiently hydrophilic functionality remained. By means of this strategy, chiral diendiols are accessible after hydroperoxide reduction (Scheme 9.12) [103,104]. 

Zr compounds are also useful as Lewis acids for oxidation and reduction reactions. Cp2ZrH2 or Cp2Zr(0 Pr)2 catalyze the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley-type reduction and Oppenauer-type oxidation simultaneously in the presence of an allylic alcohol and benzaldehyde (Scheme 40).170 Zr(C)1 Bu)4 in the presence of excess l-(4-dimethylaminophenyl) ethanol is also an effective catalyst for the Meerwein-Ponndorf-Verley-type reduction.1 1 Similarly, Zr(0R)4 catalyze Oppenauer-type oxidation from benzylic alcohols to aldehydes or ketones in the presence of hydroperoxide.172,173... 

Iron(II) salts, usually in conjunction with catalytic amounts of copper(II) compounds, have also been used to mediate radical additions to dienes91,92. Radicals are initially generated in these cases by reductive cleavage of peroxyesters of hydroperoxides to yield, after rearrangement, alkyl radicals. Addition to dienes is then followed by oxidation of the allyl radical and trapping by solvent. Hydroperoxide 67, for example, is reduced by ferrous sulfate to acyclic radical 68, which adds to butadiene to form adduct radical 69. Oxidation of 69 by copper(H) and reaction of the resulting allyl cation 70 with methanol yield product 71 in 61% yield (equation 29). 

In 1965, Denney et al. (98) reported the reaction of a number of alkenes with ferf-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP) and cupric salts of chiral acids. The use of ethyl camphorate copper complex 144 in the allylic oxidation of cyclopentene provides, upon reduction of the camphorate ester, the allylic alcohol in low yield and low selectivity, Eq. 82. The initial publication only provided the observed rotation of cyclopentenol, but comparison to subsequent literature values (99) reveals that this reaction proceeds in 12% ee and 43% yield (based on the metal complex). 

Various transition metals have been used in redox processes. For example, tandem sequences of cyclization have been initiated from malonate enolates by electron-transfer-induced oxidation with ferricenium ion Cp2pe+ (51) followed by cyclization and either radical or cationic termination (Scheme 41). ° Titanium, in the form of Cp2TiPh, has been used to initiate reductive radical cyclizations to give y- and 5-cyano esters in a 5- or 6-exo manner, respectively (Scheme 42). The Ti(III) reagent coordinates both to the C=0 and CN groups and cyclization proceeds irreversibly without formation of iminyl radical intermediates.The oxidation of benzylic and allylic alcohols in a two-phase system in the presence of r-butyl hydroperoxide, a copper catalyst, and a phase-transfer catalyst has been examined. The reactions were shown to proceed via a heterolytic mechanism however, the oxidations of related active methylene compounds (without the alcohol functionality) were determined to be free-radical processes. 

Another route to a methyl-branched derivative makes use of reductive cleavage of spiro epoxides ( ). The realization of this process was tested in the monosaccharide series. Hittig olefination of was used to form the exocyclic methylene compound 48. This sugar contains an inherent allyl alcohol fragmenC the chiral C-4 alcohol function of which should be idealy suited to determine the chirality of the epoxide to be formed by the Sharpless method. With tert-butvl hydroperoxide, titanium tetraisopropoxide and (-)-tartrate (for a "like mode" process) no reaction occured. After a number of attempts, the Sharpless method was abandoned and extended back to the well-established m-chloroperoxybenzoic acid epoxida-tion. The (3 )-epoxide was obtained stereospecifically in excellent yield (83%rT and this could be readily reduced to give the D-ribo compound 50. The exclusive formation of 49 is unexpected and may be associated with a strong ster chemical induction by the chiral centers at C-1, C-4, and C-5. 

Regioselective [4-1-2] cycloadditions to Cjq are also possible with 2,3-dimethyl-buta-1,3-diene (4) and with the monoterpene 7-methyl-3-methylideneocta-l,6-diene (5, myrcene) [22]. These monoadduct formations proceed under mild and controlled conditions. Most of these addition products of 1,3-butadiene derivatives (e.g. 4, 5, 8-12) are unstable against air and light [25]. The dihydrofuUerene moiety in the Diels-Alder adducts act as a 02-sensitizer and promotes the oxidation of the cyclohexene moiety to the hydroperoxide. Reduction of the hydroperoxide with PPhj yields the corresponding allylic alcohols [25]. 

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