Sharpless method, allylic

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. 

Equatorially positioned methyl-branched derivatives may be obtained by reductive cleavage of spiro epoxides [94], Thus the Peterson olefination of 188gives the exocyclic 3 -methylene function in 189. By means of a Sharpless epoxidation the allylic 4"-hydroxy group should determine the chirality of the resulting epoxide. However, the Sharpless method does not show any reaction neither in a monosaccharide model system nor in this trisaccharide precursor [95]. Amazingly, the classical epoxidation with m-chloroperbenzoic acid is employed to give exclusively the desired (3"R) epoxide 190 in excellent yield. These results may be associated with a sufficient chiral induction of the stereochemical information at C-l", C-4", and C-5". A subsequent reduction furnishes the original E-D-C trisaccharide sequence 191 of mithramycin [95, 96]. 

Oxidation in the presence of chiral titanium tartrate (modified Sharpless method). Inspired by the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation48 of allylic alcohols with hydroperoxides in the presence of chiral titanium complex [diethyl tartrate (DET) and Ti(0-i-Pr)4], Kagan and co-workers46 and Modena and co-workers47 developed almost at the same time two variations of this reaction leading to o.p. sulfoxides with high enantiomeric purity. 

Both chemical and enzymatic synthetic methods for the asymmetric oxidation of the carbon-carbon double bond have been developed [46], but the area of carbon-carbon double bond oxidations has been shaped by the breakthrough discovery of asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols with the Katsuki-Sharpless method [47]. Catalytic asymmetric synthesis of epoxides from alkenes by Jacobsen... 

In the case of alkenes with polar functional groups, two-site attachment of the substrate to a chiral oxidant is possible and has allowed spectacular enantioselection. Thus, both the hydroperoxide anion based epoxidation of a,/ -unsaturated carbonyls and the epoxidation of allylic alcohols by the titanium(IV)-based Sharpless method exhibit very high enantioselectivity on a wide variety of substrates. 

Figure 2. Enantioselective epoxidation of allylic alcohols hy the Sharpless method...

As discussed in the preceeding section, the application of the Sharpless method to the epoxidation of homoallylic alcohols leads to epoxy alcohols with only 23-55% enantiomeric excess and of opposite steric course relative to that observed for allylic alcohols. The reason for the low enantioselection was considered to be due to steric congestion in the chain of the homoallylic alcohol as it folded to come into contact with the peroxygen. 

The seminal enantioselective allylic alcohols epoxidation realized by Katsuki and Sharpless [18] to which other similarly steroselective reactions soon followed (e.g., bishydroxyla-tion, cyclopropanation, lactonization and catalytic hydrogenation) have been invaluable for this purpose. One of the most significant applications, as far as drug synthesis is concerned, of the Sharpless method from the innumerable ones which have been found in the past 20 years is the routine preparation (Fig. 6) of antipodal pairs of known chirality of (3-blockers such as propranolol (5) [19]. 

Chiral epoxides are extensively employed high-value intermediates in the synthesis of chiral compounds due to their ability to react with a broad variety of nucleophiles. In recent years a lot of research has been devoted to the development of catalytic methods for their production [551, 1141], The Katsuki-Sharpless method for the asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols [1142,1143] and the asynunetric dihydroxylation of alkenes are now widely applied and reliable procedures. Catalysts for the epoxidation of nonfunctionalized olefins have been developed more recently [555, 1144]. Although high selectivities have been achieved for the epoxidation of cA-alkenes, the selectivities achieved with trans- and terminal olefins were less satisfactory using the latter methods. 

The products are formed in good chemical yields and high diastereoselectivity, analogous to the Sharpless-method from acyclic substrates, R S (unHke, /)-products 32 were formed preferentially. The allylic hydroperoxides obtained from the photooxygenation of vmyKc silanes or stannanes are readily dehydrated to a,(3-unsaturated carbonyl products with a silyl or stannyl group at the a carbon (Scheme 18). 

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 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 development of Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation (SAE) of allylic alcohols in 1980 constitutes a breakthrough in asymmetric synthesis, and to date this method remains the most widely applied asymmetric epoxidation technique [34, 44]. A wide range of substrates can be used in the reaction ( ) -allylic alcohols generally give high enantioselectivity, whereas the reaction is more substrate-dependent with (Z)-allylic alcohols [34]. 

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]. 

Previous syntheses of terminal alkynes from aldehydes employed Wittig methodology with phosphonium ylides and phosphonates. 6 7 The DuPont procedure circumvents the use of phosphorus compounds by using lithiated dichloromethane as the source of the terminal carbon. The intermediate lithioalkyne 4 can be quenched with water to provide the terminal alkyne or with various electrophiles, as in the present case, to yield propargylic alcohols, alkynylsilanes, or internal alkynes. Enantioenriched terminal alkynylcarbinols can also be prepared from allylic alcohols by Sharpless epoxidation and subsequent basic elimination of the derived chloro- or bromomethyl epoxide (eq 5). A related method entails Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation of an allylic chloride and base treatment of the acetonide derivative.8 In these approaches the product and starting material contain the same number of carbons. 

Allylic alcohols can be converted to epoxy-alcohols with tert-butylhydroperoxide on molecular sieves, or with peroxy acids. Epoxidation of allylic alcohols can also be done with high enantioselectivity. In the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation,allylic alcohols are converted to optically active epoxides in better than 90% ee, by treatment with r-BuOOH, titanium tetraisopropoxide and optically active diethyl tartrate. The Ti(OCHMe2)4 and diethyl tartrate can be present in catalytic amounts (15-lOmol %) if molecular sieves are present. Polymer-supported catalysts have also been reported. Since both (-t-) and ( —) diethyl tartrate are readily available, and the reaction is stereospecific, either enantiomer of the product can be prepared. The method has been successful for a wide range of primary allylic alcohols, where the double bond is mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted. This procedure, in which an optically active catalyst is used to induce asymmetry, has proved to be one of the most important methods of asymmetric synthesis, and has been used to prepare a large number of optically active natural products and other compounds. The mechanism of the Sharpless epoxidation is believed to involve attack on the substrate by a compound formed from the titanium alkoxide and the diethyl tartrate to produce a complex that also contains the substrate and the r-BuOOH. ... 

Although the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation is an elegant method to introduce a specific defined chirality in epoxy alcohols and thus, in functionalized aziridines (see Sect. 2.1), it is restricted to the use of allylic alcohols as the starting materials. To overcome this limitation, cyclic sulfites and sulfates derived from enantiopure vfc-diols can be used as synthetic equivalents of epoxides (Scheme 5) [12,13]. 

The enantioselective epoxidation method developed by Sharpless and co-workers is an important asymmetric transformation known today. This method involves the epoxidation of allylic alcohols with fcrt-butyl hydroperoxide and titanium (sopropoxide in the presence of optically active pure tartarate esters, see Eqn. (25). 

Since its discovery in 1980,7 the Sharpless expoxidation of allylic alcohols has become a benchmark classic method in asymmetric synthesis. A wide variety of primary allylic alcohols have been epoxidized with over 90% optical yield and 70-90% chemical yield using TBHP (r-BuOOH) as the oxygen donor and titanium isopropoxide-diethyl tartrate (DET, the most frequently used dialkyl tartrate) as the catalyst. One factor that simplifies the standard epoxidation reaction is that the active chiral catalyst is generated in situ, which means that the pre-preparation of the active catalyst is not required. 

TABLE 4-1. Asymmetric Epoxidation of Allylic Alcohols by Sharpless Reagents (Method A) and by the Modified Sharpless Reagents (Method B)... 

Using methods developed by Sharpless (68), Reich (69), and others, the optically active 4,4-dimethyl-2-cyclohexenol is prepared in excellent yield from the corresponding chiral selenide (eq. [19]). The (S)-4,4-dimethyl-3-p-methylphenylselenocyclohexanone, [a] 42.1° (e.e. 39%), was reduced with sodium borohydride to the (one) diastereomeric alcohol, [a] 11.0°, in quantitative yield and converted to the allylic alcohol, [a] — 17.7°, with an e.e. of 40%. 

It should be added that many other groups have contributed to the predevelopments of these inventions and also to later developments. All four reactions find wide application in organic synthesis. The Sharpless epoxidation of allylic alcohols finds industrial application in Arco s synthesis of glycidol, the epoxidation product of allyl alcohol, and Upjohn s synthesis of disparlure (Figure 14.4), a sex pheromone for the gypsy moth. The synthesis of disparlure starts with a Ci3 allylic alcohol in which, after asymmetric epoxidation, the alcohol is replaced by the other carbon chain. Perhaps today the Jacobsen method can be used directly on a suitable Ci9 alkene, although the steric differences between both ends of the molecules are extremely small ... 

Although it was also Henbest who reported as early as 1965 the first asymmetric epoxidation by using a chiral peracid, without doubt, one of the methods of enantioselective synthesis most frequently used in the past few years has been the "asymmetric epoxidation" reported in 1980 by K.B. Sharpless [3] which meets almost all the requirements for being an "ideal" reaction. That is to say, complete stereofacial selectivities are achieved under catalytic conditions and working at the multigram scale. The method, which is summarised in Fig. 10.1, involves the titanium (IV)-catalysed epoxidation of allylic alcohols in the presence of tartaric esters as chiral ligands. The reagents for this asyimnetric epoxidation of primary allylic alcohols are L-(+)- or D-(-)-diethyl (DET) or diisopropyl (DIPT) tartrate,27 titanium tetraisopropoxide and water free solutions of fert-butyl hydroperoxide. The natural and unnatural diethyl tartrates, as well as titanium tetraisopropoxide are commercially available, and the required water-free solution of tert-bnty hydroperoxide is easily prepared from the commercially available isooctane solutions. 

More than a decade of experience on Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation has confirmed that the method allows a great structural diversity in allylic alcohols and no exceptions to the face-selectivity rules shown in Fig. 10.1 have been reported to date. The scheme can be used with absolute confidence to predict and assign absolute configurations to the epoxides obtained from prochiral allylic alcohols. However, when allylic alcohols have chiral substituents at C(l), C(2) and/or C(3), the assignment of stereochemistry to the newly introduced epoxide group must be done with considerably more care. 

In connection with the synthetic work directed towards the total synthesis of polyene macrolide antibiotics -such as amphotericin B (i)- Sharpless and Masamune [1] on one hand, and Nicolaou and Uenishi on the other [2], have developed alternative methods for the enantioselective synthesis of 1,3-diols and, in general, 1, 3, 5...(2n + 1) polyols. One of these methods is based on the Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols [3] and regioselective reductive ring opening of epoxides by metal hydrides, such as Red-Al and DIBAL. The second method uses available monosaccharides from the "chiral pool" [4], such as D-glucose. 

The combination of the preceding method of obtaining allyl alcohols with the Sharpless kinetic resolution (SKR) of secondary allyl alcohols allows conversion of the original racemic allyl alcohol into a pure enantiomer with a 100% theoretical yield. By this procedure, the glycidol obtained by the SKR epoxidation of the secondary allyl alcohol is converted into the corresponding mesylate and then treated with the Te ion, furnishing the allylic alcohol with the same configuration of the enantiomer in the SKR which... 

Asymmetric epoxidation of olefins is an effective approach for the synthesis of enan-tiomerically enriched epoxides. A variety of efficient methods have been developed [1, 2], including Sharpless epoxidation of allylic alcohols [3, 4], metal-catalyzed epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins [5-10], and nucleophilic epoxidation of electron-deficient olefins [11-14], Dioxiranes and oxazirdinium salts have been proven to be effective oxidation reagents [15-21], Chiral dioxiranes [22-28] and oxaziridinium salts [19] generated in situ with Oxone from ketones and iminium salts, respectively, have been extensively investigated in numerous laboratories and have been shown to be useful toward the asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes. In these epoxidation reactions, only a catalytic amount of ketone or iminium salt is required since they are regenerated upon epoxidation of alkenes (Scheme 1). 

This method has proven to be an extremely useful means of synthesizing enantiomerically enriched compounds. Various improvements in the methods for carrying out the Sharpless oxidation have been developed.48 The reaction can be done with catalytic amounts of titanium isopropoxide and the tartrate ester.49 This procedure uses molecular sieves to sequester water, which has a deleterious effect on both the rate and enantioselectivity of the reaction. Scheme 12.9 gives some examples of enantioselective epoxidation of allylic alcohols. 

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