Titanium compounds asymmetric epoxidation

The literature has been reviewed through 1989 for the purposes of preparing this chapter but the documentation herein is not intended to be comprehensive. Other reviews have covered various aspects of asymmetric epoxidation including synthetic applications through 1984, a thorough compilation of uses through early 1987 and an extensive discussion of the mechanism of the reaction. Use of homochiral epoxy alcohols in the synthesis of polyhydroxylated compounds, e.g. sugars, and for the preparation of various synthetic intermediates has been reviewed.A personal account of the discovery of titanium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation has been recorded." A comprehensive review of titanium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation is planned."... 

One of the most useful organic reactions discovered in the last several decades is the titanium-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of primary aUyUc alcohols developed by Professor Barry Sharpless, then at Stanford University. The reagent consists of tert-butyl hydroperoxide, titanium tetraisopropoxide [Ti(0-iPr)J, and diethyl tartrate. Recall from Section 3.4B that tartaric add has two chiral centers and exists as three stereoisomers a pair of enantiomers and a meso compound. The form of tartaric add used in the Sharpless epoxidation is either pure (+)-diethyl tartrate or its enantiomer, (-)-diethyl tartrate. The fert-butyl hydroperoxide is the oxidizing agent and must be present in molar... 

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. ... 

Titanium(IV) isopropoxide Chemical Abstracts nomenclature 2-propanol, titanium(4-f-) salt) is the titanium species of choice for preparation of the titanium tartrate complex in the asymmetric epoxidation process. The use of titanium(IV) t-butoxide has been recommended for those reactions in which the epoxy alcohol product is particularily sensitive to ring opening by the alkoxide. The 2-substituted epoxy alcohols (Section 3.2.5.2) are one such class of compounds. Ring opening by t-butoxide is much slower than by isopropoxide. With the reduced amount of catalyst that now is needed for all asymmetric epoxidations, the use of Ti(OBu )4 appears to be unnecessary in most cases, but the concept is worth noting. 

Preliminary results for asymmetric epoxidations of ( )-cinnamyl alcohol and geraniol using (15,25)-l,2-di(2-methoxyphenyl)ethane-l,2-diol or (15,25)-l,2-di(4-methoxyphenyl)ethane-l,2-diol as chiral auxiliaries with titanium(IV) isopropoxide and TBHP have been described. High enantioselectivity (95% ee) is observed when the 2-methoxyphenyl compound is used, while somewhat lower enantioselectivity (64% ee) and opposite face selectivity is described for the catalyst comprised of the 4-methoxyphenyl analog.Further elaboration of the scope and generality of these observations will be of interest. 

With compound 64 available, vanadyl acetylacetonate catalyzed epoxidation [44] accompanied by simultaneous cyclization, afforded the corresponding tetrahydrofuran and its diastereomer in a 4 1 ratio (Scheme 12). Ring expansion of the corresponding mesylate 65 with silver (I) carbonate afforded compound 66 in a 42% yield for the two steps [45]. Extension of the side chain in six steps, followed by an asymmetric epoxidation, gave product 67 stereoselectively. The cyclization of 67 with titanium tetraisopropoxide in a manner consistent with model studies [27d], afforded bicyclic ether 68 in 65% yield. Transformation to the epoxide under standard conditions afforded fragment 69 ready to be coupled with the D-ring side chain. 

The dichloro bis(binaphthyl-Cp) titanium compound (catalyst 1 in Scheme 757) has shown excellent ability to catalyze the asymmetric epoxidation of unfuctionalized alkenes with virtually the same selectivity as previously... 

Within the last ten years, a large number of papers have appeared in which the titanium/tartrate-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols was used as a key step in the synthesis of carbohydrates, amino acids, pheromones, leucotrienes and other stereochemically homogeneous compounds. This development has been discussed in several reviews [20],... 

The p-hydroxyamines are a class of compounds which fall within the generic definition of equation (8). When the alcohol is secondary, the possibility for kinetic resolution exists if the titanium tartrate complex is capable of catalyzing the enantioselective oxidation of the amine to an amine oxide (or other oxidation product). The use of the standard asymmetric epoxidation complex, i.e. Ti2(tartrate)2, to achieve such an enantioselective oxidation was unsuccessful. However, modification of the complex so that the stoichiometry lies between Ti2(tartrate)i and Ti2(tartrate)i.s leads to very successful kinetic resolutions of p-hydroxyamines. A representative example is shown in equation (I3).i4 b,i4ie Tjje oxidation and kinetic resolution of more than 20 secondary p-hydroxyamines provides an indication of the scope of the reaction and of some structural limitations to good kinetic resolution. These results also show a consistent correlation of absolute configuration of the resolved hydroxyamine with the configuration of tartrate used in the catalyst. This correlation is as shown in equation (13), where use of (+)-DIPT results in oxidation of the (5)-p-hydroxyamine and leaves unoxidized the (/ )-enantiomer. 

Kinetic resolution is the achievement of partial or complete resolution by viitue of unequal rates of reaction of the enantiomers in a racemate with a chiral catalyst [5]. The method usually forms two products one enantiomer does not react with the chiral catalyst or else it reacts very slowly whilst the other enantiomer reacts with the aid of the chiral catalyst to form a new product which may or may not be chiral. As a result two different compounds now make up the mixture and can be separated by conventional chromatographic techniques. One of the most widely applied examples of this technique is the Sharpless Kinetic Resolution. This asymmetric epoxidation of ally lie alcohols was reported by Sharpless in 1980 catalysed by a titanium (IV) tartrate complex in the presence of a hydroperoxide [6] and has been employed in a number of kinetic resolutions [7]. This reaction shows remarkable... 

The mechanism of this complex reaction involves the titanium compound acting as a clamp, holding the alkene, peroxide, and (5,5)-tartaric ester together. Because the ester is asymmetric, the clamped combination of molecules is also asymmetric. In one cluster, the ox irane oxygen is delivered from one side, whereas in the enantiomeric cluster formed from (R,R)-tartaric ester, the oxygen comes from the other side. These and other epoxides can then be transformed into all manner of compounds, as we win now see. 

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