Titanium tartrate

In light of the previous discussions, it would be instructive to compare the behavior of enantiomerically pure allylic alcohol 12 in epoxidation reactions without and with the asymmetric titanium-tartrate catalyst (see Scheme 2). When 12 is exposed to the combined action of titanium tetraisopropoxide and tert-butyl hydroperoxide in the absence of the enantiomerically pure tartrate ligand, a 2.3 1 mixture of a- and /(-epoxy alcohol diastereoisomers is produced in favor of a-13. This ratio reflects the inherent diasteieo-facial preference of 12 (substrate-control) for a-attack. In a different experiment, it was found that SAE of achiral allylic alcohol 15 with the (+)-diethyl tartrate [(+)-DET] ligand produces a 99 1 mixture of /(- and a-epoxy alcohol enantiomers in favor of / -16 (98% ee). 

The emergence of the powerful Sharpless asymmetric epoxida-tion (SAE) reaction in the 1980s has stimulated major advances in both academic and industrial organic synthesis.14 Through the action of an enantiomerically pure titanium/tartrate complex, a myriad of achiral and chiral allylic alcohols can be epoxidized with exceptional stereoselectivities (see Chapter 19 for a more detailed discussion). Interest in the SAE as a tool for industrial organic synthesis grew substantially after Sharpless et al. discovered that the asymmetric epoxidation process can be conducted with catalytic amounts of the enantiomerically pure titanium/tartrate complex simply by adding molecular sieves to the epoxidation reaction mix-... 

Figure 6.1 Proposed structure for the titanium tartrate complex (1) and its transformation after addition of reagents (e. g., TBHP and olefin), forming (+)-2.

The AE reaction catalyzed by titanium tartrate 1 and with alkyl hydroperoxide as terminal oxidant has been applied to a large variety of primary allylic alcohols containing all eight basic substitution patterns. A few examples are presented in Table 6.2. 

The mechanism for such a process was explained in terms of a structure as depicted in Figure 6.5. The allylic alcohol and the alkyl hydroperoxide are incorporated into the vanadium coordination sphere and the oxygen transfer from the peroxide to the olefin takes place in an intramolecular fashion (as described above for titanium tartrate catalyst) [30, 32]. 

The original titanium-mediated epoxidation is a stoichiometric reaction.27 However, the epoxidation can be carried out with a catalytic amount (5-10 mol.%) of titanium-tartrate complex in the presence of molecular sieves.29 The advantages of the catalytic procedure are ease of product isolation, increased yield, economy, and a high substrate concentration. 

The original epoxidation with titanium-tartrate is homogeneous, but it can be carried out heterogeneously without diminishing enantioselectivity by using titanium-pillared montmorillonite catalyst (Ti-PILC) prepared from titanium isopropoxide, (+)-DAT, and Na+-montmorillonite.38 Due to the limited spacing of Ti-PILC, the epoxidation becomes slower as the allylic alcohol gets bulkier. 

Relative insensitivity to preexisting chiral centers In allylic alcohols with preexisting chiral centers, the diastereofacial preference of the chiral titanium-tartrate catalyst is often strong enough to override diastereofacial preferences inherent in the chiral olefinic substrate. 

Catalytic asymmetric epaxidation (13, 51-53). Complete experimental details are available for this reaction, carried out in the presence of heat-activated crushed 3A or powdered 4A molecular sieves. A further improvement, both in the rate and enantioselectivity, is use of anhydrous oxidant in isoctane rather than in CH2C12. The titanium-tartrate catalyst is not stable at 25°, and should be prepared prior to use at -20°. Either the oxidant or the substrate is then added and the mixture of three components should be allowed to stand at this temperature for 20-30 min. before addition of the fourth component. This aging period is essential for high enantioselectivity. Epoxidations with 5-10 mole % of Ti(0-/-Pr)4 and 6-12% of the tartrate generally proceed in high conversion and high enantioselectivity (90-95% ee). Some increase in the amount of catalyst can increase the enantioselectivity by 1-5%, but can complicate workup and lower the yield. Increase of Ti(0-i-Pr)4 to 50-100 mole % can even lower the enantioselectivity. 

The AD has been developed into an extremely useful reaction, and Sharpless states that probably its synthetic utility surpasses that of titanium tartrate-catalysed asymmetric epoxidation [16], since the range of substrates is much larger for AD. 

These species, and in particular the Ti derivative, have a fundamental significance, being related to the Sharpless epoxidation reaction. In fact, despite the many attempts made in order to isolate and characterize the titanium tartrate peroxide derivative involved in that enantioselective process, only indirect evidence in solution and theoretical calculation clues have been obtained so far . ... 

M. G. Finn, K. B, Sharpless, Epoxidation with Titanium-Tartrate Catalysts in Asymmetric Synthesis, J. D. Morrison, Ed.. Vol. 5, pp 269-271, Academic, New York 1985. 

Finn, F M, Hofmann, K 1976, in Neurath, H, Hill, R L (eds), The Proteins, 3rd edn, Vol II, chapter 2(p 106—237), Academic Press New York London Finn, M G, Sharpless, fC. B 1985, On the Mechanism of Asymmetric Epoxidation with Titanium-Tartrate Catalysts, in Momson, J D (ed), Asymmetric Synthesis, Vol 5 Chiral Catalysis chapter 8, p 247, Academic Press New York Fischer, E 1914, Chem Ber 47,196 Fischer, H, Slangier G 1927, Liebigs, Ann Chem 459, 53 Fischer, H Neber, M 1932. Liebigs Ann Chem 496,1... 

Figure 6A.1. Enantiofacial selectivity in the epoxidation of prochiral allylic alcohols with titanium/tartrate/TBHP.

Figure 6A.8. Fluxional equilibrium proposed for the titanium-tartrate complex in solution.

C.2.1. Complexes Based on Titanium Tartrate-Water Combination... 

Studies of bis-tartrate esters and other tartrate ligands for titanium-mediated asymmetric epoxidation have provided evidence against the sole intermediacy of monomeric titanium-tartrate species in the parent system329,330. Other tartrate ligands have been studied in attempts to gain a better understanding of the mechanism of the Sharpless epoxidation330. 

B. E. Rossiter (1985). Synthetic aspects and application of asymmetric epoxidation , in Asymmetric Synthesis. Ed. J. Morrison. Orlando Academic Press, p. 194 M. G. Finn and K. B. Sharpless On the mechanism of asymmetric epoxidation with titanium-tartrate catalysts . Ibid., p. 247. 

The structure of the titanium-tartrate derivatives has been determined,25,26,31 37 and based on these observations together with the reaction selectivity, a mechanistic explanation has been proposed (Scheme 9.3).38 The complex 1 contains a chiral titanium atom through the appendant tartrate ligands. The intramolecular hydrogen bond ensures that internal epoxidation is only favored at one face of the allyl alcohol. This explanation is in accord with the experimental observations that substrates with an a-substituent (b = alkyl a = alkyl or hydrogen) react much slower than when this position is not substituted (b = hydrogen). 

Fig 3.36. Mechanistic details of Sharpless epoxidations, part I the actual oxidant is a stereouniform tert-butyl hydroperoxide complex of a titanium tartrate "dimer" with the least hindrance possible. 

Sharpless also found that this reaction works witlronly a catalytic amount of titanium-tartrate complex, because the reaction products can be displaced from the metal centre by more of the two reagents. The catalytic version of the asymmetric epoxidation is well suited to industrial exploitation, and the American Company J. T. Baker employs it to make synthetic disparlure, the pheromone of... 

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. 

In the area of metal catalyzed asymmetric sulfoxidation there is still much room for improvement. The most successful examples involve titanium tartrates, but at the same time often require near stoichiometric quantities of catalysts [301, 302]. Recently, this methodology has been successfully used for the production of (S)-Omeprazole by AstraZeneca [303] (see Fig. 4.110). A modified Kagan-pro-cedure [302] was applied, using cumene hydroperoxide as the oxidant. Another example is the sulfoxidation of an aryl ethyl sulfide, which was in development by Astra Zeneca as a candidate drug for the treatment of schizophrenia. In this case the final ee could be improved from 60% to 80% by optimising the Ti tar-trate ratio [304]. 

Determination of azo dyes is done most satisfactorily in the presence of sodium tartrate which prevents the precipitation of the difficultly soluble dye acids (e.g., benzopurpurin, see Knecht, pages 31-32). Yellow dyes cannot be easily titrated because titanium tartrate is strongly yellow in color. 

FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF TITANIUM TARTRATE CATALYZED ASYMMETRIC 390 EPOXIDATION... 

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