Katsuki-Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation

The Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation reaction (most commonly referred by the discovering scientists as the AE reaction) is an efficient and highly selective method for the preparation of a wide variety of chiral epoxy alcohols. The AE reaction is comprised of four key components the substrate allylic alcohol, the titanium isopropoxide precatalyst, the chiral ligand diethyl tartrate, and the terminal oxidant tert-butyl hydroperoxide. The reaction protocol is straightforward and does not require any special handling techniques. The only requirement is that the reacting olefin contains an allylic alcohol. 

The Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation (AE) procedure for the enantiose-lective formation of epoxides from allylic alcohols is a milestone in asymmetric catalysis [9]. This classical asymmetric transformation uses TBHP as the terminal oxidant, and the reaction has been widely used in various synthetic applications. There are several excellent reviews covering the scope and utility of the AE reaction... 

Nucleophilic reduction by telluride ion of oxirane tosylates provides allylic alcohols, presumably via telluriranes as shown in Equation (12) and Table 7 <1997T12131>. When used in conjunction with the Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation, optically active transposed allylic alcohols can be made in high enantiomeric excess <1993JOC718, 1994JOC4311, 1994JOG4760>. 

Efaroxan, an a2 adrenoreceptor antagonist, could be used for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer and Parkinson), migraine and type II diabetes. Therefore, the total syntheses of ( + )-efaroxan and their derivatives have drawn much attention.The chiral 2,3-dihydrobenzofuran carboxylic acid 135, the direct precursor of (+ )-efaroxan, was obtained mainly from the resolution of racemic 135. Coelho el al. have reported a straightforward enantioselective synthesis of i -( + )-2-ethyl-2,3-dihydrofuran-2-carboxylic acid (135) achieved by a Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation reaction (Scheme 5.22). The dihydrobenzofuran acid 135 was obtained in seven steps from MBH adduct 136 in an overall yield of 17%. 

Preparation of (2S,3S)-3-propyloxiranemethanol. Catalytic Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation (AE) (Scheme 1.1)... 

The past thirty years have witnessed great advances in the selective synthesis of epoxides, and numerous regio-, chemo-, enantio-, and diastereoselective methods have been developed. Discovered in 1980, the Katsuki-Sharpless catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, in which a catalyst for the first time demonstrated both high selectivity and substrate promiscuity, was the first practical entry into the world of chiral 2,3-epoxy alcohols [10, 11]. Asymmetric catalysis of the epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins through the use of Jacobsen s chiral [(sale-i i) Mi iln] [12] or Shi s chiral ketones [13] as oxidants is also well established. Catalytic asymmetric epoxidations have been comprehensively reviewed [14, 15]. 

Katsuki and Sharpless s ° asymmetric epoxidation of 727 gave 728 only if the... 

Rossiter BE, Katsuki T, Sharpless KB. Asymmetric epoxidation provides shortest routes to four chiral epoxy alcohols which are key intermediates in syntheses of methymycin, erythromycin, leukotriene C-1, and disparlure. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1981 102(2) 464-465. 

The first practical method for asymmetric epoxidation of primary and secondary allylic alcohols was developed by K.B. Sharpless in 1980 (T. Katsuki, 1980 K.B. Sharpless, 1983 A, B, 1986 see also D. Hoppe, 1982). Tartaric esters, e.g., DET and DIPT" ( = diethyl and diisopropyl ( + )- or (— )-tartrates), are applied as chiral auxiliaries, titanium tetrakis(2-pro-panolate) as a catalyst and tert-butyl hydroperoxide (= TBHP, Bu OOH) as the oxidant. If the reaction mixture is kept absolutely dry, catalytic amounts of the dialkyl tartrate-titanium(IV) complex are suflicient, which largely facilitates work-up procedures (Y. Gao, 1987). Depending on the tartrate enantiomer used, either one of the 2,3-epoxy alcohols may be obtained with high enantioselectivity. The titanium probably binds to the diol grouping of one tartrate molecule and to the hydroxy groups of the bulky hydroperoxide and of the allylic alcohol... 

The asymmetric epoxidation of an allylic alcohol 1 to yield a 2,3-epoxy alcohol 2 with high enantiomeric excess, has been developed by Sharpless and Katsuki. This enantioselective reaction is carried out in the presence of tetraisopropoxyti-tanium and an enantiomerically pure dialkyl tartrate—e.g. (-1-)- or (-)-diethyl tartrate (DET)—using tcrt-butyl hydroperoxide as the oxidizing agent. 

Ten years after Sharpless s discovery of the asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols, Jacobsen and Katsuki independently reported asymmetric epoxidations of unfunctionalized olefins by use of chiral Mn-salen catalysts such as 9 (Scheme 9.3) [14, 15]. The reaction works best on (Z)-disubstituted alkenes, although several tri-and tetrasubstituted olefins have been successfully epoxidized [16]. The reaction often requires ligand optimization for each substrate for high enantioselectivity to be achieved. 

The scope of metal-mediated asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols was remarkably enhanced by a new titanium system introduced by Katsuki and Sharpless epoxidation of allylic alcohols using a titanium(IV) isopropoxide, dialkyl tartrate (DAT), and TBHP (TBHP = tert-butyl-hydroperoxide) proceeds with high enantioselectivity and good chemical yield, regardless of... 

The requirement for the presence of an adjacent alcohol group can be regarded as quite a severe limitation to the substrate range undergoing asymmetric epoxidation using the Katsuki-Sharpless method. To overcome this limitation new chiral metal complexes have been discovered which catalyse the epoxidation of nonfunctionalized alkenes. The work of Katsuki and Jacobsen in this area has been extremely important. Their development of chiral manganese (Ill)-salen complexes for asymmetric epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins has been reviewed1881. 

An important breakthrough in asymmetric epoxidation has been the Katsuki-Sharpless invention [1], The reaction uses a chiral Ti(IV) catalyst, t-butylhydroperoxide as the oxidant and it works only for allylic alcohols as the substrate. In the first report titanium is applied in a stoichiometric amount. The chirality is introduced in the catalyst by reacting titanium tetra-isopropoxide... 

In 1980, Katsuki and Sharpless described the first really efficient asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols with very high enantioselectivities (ee 90-95%), employing a combination of Ti(OPr-/)4-diethyl tartrate (DET) as chiral catalyst and TBHP as oxidant Stoichiometric conditions were originally described for this system, however the addition of molecular sieves (which trap water traces) to the reaction allows the epoxidation to proceed under catalytic conditions. The stereochemical course of the reaction may be predicted by the empirical rule shown in equations 40 and 41. With (—)-DET, the oxidant approaches the allylic alcohol from the top side of the plane, whereas the bottom side is open for the (-l-)-DET based reagent, giving rise to the opposite optically active epoxide. Various aspects of this reaction including the mechanism, theoretical investigations and synthetic applications of the epoxy alcohol products have been reviewed and details may be found in the specific literature . 

Much attention has been paid to asymmetric amplification where the enantiomeric excess ( ) of the product is higher than that of the chiral catalyst (equation 35)136. The first experiment on asymmetric amplification was reported by Kagan and coworkers in the Katsuki-Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allyl alcohols137. Asymmetric amplification has also been studied in the asymmetric addition of dialkylzincs to carbonyl compounds. 

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... 

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