Sharpless hydroxylation

The diol 18, prepared by a Sharpless hydroxylation, was converted to the epoxide 19 through the mesylate (Scheme 9.23).162... 

Asymmetric epoxidation is another important area of activity, initially pioneered by Sharpless, using catalysts based on titanium tetraisoprop-oxide and either (+) or (—) dialkyl tartrate. The enantiomer formed depends on the tartrate used. Whilst this process has been widely used for the synthesis of complex carbohydrates it is limited to allylic alcohols, the hydroxyl group bonding the substrate to the catalyst. Jacobson catalysts (Formula 4.3) based on manganese complexes with chiral Shiff bases have been shown to be efficient in epoxidation of a wide range of alkenes. 

Related catalytic enantioselective processes It is worthy of note that the powerful Ti-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation procedure of Sharpless [27] is often used in the preparation of optically pure acyclic allylic alcohols through the catalytic kinetic resolution of easily accessible racemic mixtures [28]. When the catalytic epoxidation is applied to cyclic allylic substrates, reaction rates are retarded and lower levels of enantioselectivity are observed. Ru-catalyzed asymmetric hydrogenation has been employed by Noyori to effect the resolution of five- and six-membered allylic carbinols [29] in this instance, as with the Ti-catalyzed procedure, the presence of an unprotected hydroxyl function is required. Perhaps the most efficient general procedure for the enantioselective synthesis of this class of cyclic allylic ethers is that recently developed by Trost and co-workers, involving Pd-catalyzed asymmetric additions of alkoxides to allylic esters [30]. 

The final steps in a total synthesis of (+ )-gloeosporone (3, a natural germination inhibitor of a fungus) required oxidation of the acetylene group of 1 to a diketone group. The oxidation was carried out in 74% yield by the catalytic Ru02 procedure of Sharpless. On liberation (pyridine-HF) of the C7-hydroxyl group, the hydroxy... 

Optically active ds.vic-diofa.1 It is known that pyridine catalyzes the hydroxyl-ation of alkenes with Os04 and that the osmate ester intermediates form an isolable complex with pyridine (1, 760-761). Hentges and Sharpless reasoned that a similar chiral amine could induce chirality in the diol. And indeed addition of 1 equivalent of 1 or of the C8-diastereoisomer, dihydroquinidine acetate (2), does result in vic-diols in fair to high enantiomeric excess, particularly in reactions performed in toluene at —78°. Opposite stereoselectivities are exhibited by 1 and 2. Optical yields range from 25 to 85%. Use of an amine in which the chiral center is two carbon atoms removed from the coordination site lowers the optical yield to 3 18%. 

Asymmetric Epoxidation. Asymmetric epoxidation of nonfunctionalized alkenes manifests a great synthetic challenge. The most successful method of asymmetric epoxidation, developed by Katsuki and Sharpless,332 employs a Ti(IV) alkoxide [usually Ti(OisoPr)4], an optically active dialkyl tartrate, and tert-BuOOH. This procedure, however, was designed to convert allylic alcohols to epoxy alcohols, and the hydroxyl group plays a decisive role in attaining high degree of enantiofa-cial selectivity.333,334 Without such function, the asymmetric epoxidation of simple olefins has been only moderately successful 335... 

Sharpless and Hentges proposed that the cyclic ester (112) is formed via an oxametallacy-clobutane (111) resulting from the [2 + 2] intramolecular addition of an oxo bond to the coordinated alkene in (110).345 They utilized the high stereoselectivity of this reaction to induce chirality with good optical yields (up to 83%) during the hydroxylation of various alkenes by 0s04 in the presence of chiral pyridine ligands.345... 

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