Sugar-epoxide reductive cleavage

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. 

The esters of deoxy compounds, used in Routes B and C, are prepared either from the products of reductive cleavage of epoxides, or from deoxy sugar derivatives synthesized by some other specific route. Sulfonyloxy substituents are eliminated in a basic medium or, as in the reaction of methyl 4,6-0-benzylidene-3-deoxy-2-0-p-tolylsulfonyl-a-D-aro6mo-hexo-side (75) (73), by heating the compound with soda-lime. In the carbo-... 

The trithiocarbonates may prove useful as intermediates for the synthesis of sugar dithiols from epoxides. Ring opening by reductive cleavage with lithium aluminum hydride gives excellent results with aliphatic and ahcyclic trithiocarbonates. When both carbon atoms are secondary, the product is a iraws-dithiol for example, cyclohexene oxide, which is converted into a irans-trithiocarbonate, gives, on reduction, cyclo-hexane-1,2-dithiol. The reaction has been used in the cyclitol series for the preparation of 1,2-dithio-neo-inositol and 1,2-dithio-ir-inositol, from 1,2-anhydro-alZo-inositol. The inositol trithiocarbonates show pronounced Cotton effects in their optical rotatory-dispersion spectra. 

Super-hydride (LlBEt H) has been shown to be more effective than other reagents (e.g.. LAH) for reductive cleavage of epoxides and sulphonate esters. Thus methyl a-abequioslde (3) was obtained in 94 yield on reduction of the epoxy-sugar sulphonate (4), while... 

Several reducing agents have been utilized to remove tosylate esters of sugars and other polyols. In particular, lithium aluminum hydride and lithium triethylborohydride have been most extensively used [20-23]. When secondary alcohol tosylates are used, epoxide intermediates are frequently involved. Reduction is observed to occur through either C-0 or O-S bond cleavage [24]. In this chapter, we discuss our results from the reduction of 6-0-tosylates of D-glucal and D-galactal with lithium aluminum hydride in THF. 

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