Transition state epoxide-like

The hydroxy oxygen of a peracid has a higher electrophilicity as compared to a carboxylic acid. A peracid 2 can react with an alkene 1 by transfer of that particular oxygen atom to yield an oxirane (an epoxide) 3 and a carboxylic acid 4. The reaction is likely to proceed via a transition state as shown in 5 (butterfly mechanism), where the electrophilic oxygen adds to the carbon-carbon n-hond and the proton simultaneously migrates to the carbonyl oxygen of the acid ... 

Evidently, the transition state for acid-catalyzed epoxide opening has an Sn2 -like geometry but also has a large amount of S]v-l-like carbocationic character- Since the positive charge in the protonated epoxide is shared by the more highly substituted carbon atom, backside attack of Br- occurs at the more highly substituted site. 

Enolate species 6, derived from 1-oxopropyl complex 5, reacts similarly with monosubstituted epoxides. Under the influence of diethylaluminum chloride, only the diastereomers 7 and 8 were observed in the reaction mixture 7 was the major product. The use of boron trifluoride - diethyl ether complex instead of diethylaluminum chloride caused a complete loss of stereocontrol at C , producing a 50 50 mixture of diastereomers 7 and 8, but stereocontrol at C was retained as no other diastereomers were produced. The major diastereomer produced is consistent with the intermediacy of a transition state like that represented in Newman projection C which has the usual anti-E-snolate geometry and lacks the R methyl gauche interaction of structure D. 

For furanoid derivatives, 2,3-epoxides are readily formed from trans-related groups. Other stereochemical features do not appear to be important, and this reflects the mobility of the orientations on such five-membered rings. Here, eclipsing polar interactions between cis sulfonate and methoxyl groups are not likely to alter much on passing to the transition state and, accordingly, both anomers of methyl 2-O-methylsulfonyl-D-xylofuranoside form the 2,3-anhydro-D-lyxofuranoside on treatment22 with sodium methoxide at 0°. 

Mechanistic studies showed that epoxidation catalyzed by MTO/H2O2 occurs as direct oxygen transfer via transition states of spiro structure likely involving both mono- and bisperoxo complexes.1233 1245-1247... 

In the second step meto-chloroperbenzoic acid (MCPBA) epoxidizes the resulting bis-acetal from the /J-face. The weak 0-0 bond of MCPBA undergoes attack by electron rich substrates like alkenes. This reaction is syn stereospecific and believed to take place via transition state 48.30... 

To explain the enantioselectivity obtained with semi-stabilized ylides (e.g., benzyl-substituted ylides), the same factors as for the epoxidation reactions discussed earlier should be considered (see Section 10.2.1.10). The enantioselectivity is controlled in the initial, non-reversible, betaine formation step. As before, controlling which lone pair reacts with the metallocarbene and which conformer of the ylide forms are the first two requirements. The transition state for antibetaine formation arises via a head-on or cisoid approach and, as in epoxidation, face selectivity is well controlled. The syn-betaine is predicted to be formed via a head-to-tail or transoid approach in which Coulombic interactions play no part. Enantioselectivity in cis-aziridine formation was more varied. Formation of the minor enantiomer in both cases is attributed to a lack of complete control of the conformation of the ylide rather than to poor facial control for imine approach. For stabilized ylides (e.g., ester-stabilized ylides), the enantioselectivity is controlled in the ring-closure step and moderate enantioselectivities have been achieved thus far. Due to differences in the stereocontrolling step for different types of ylides, it is likely that different sulfides will need to be designed to achieve high stereocontrol for the different types of ylides. 

Calculations [46] and studies of intramolecular oxaziridinium epoxidations [47] suggest that, like their dioxirane counterparts, these epoxidation processes proceed via spiro-transition states. However, the iminium epoxidations are generally more substrate-specific than those using dioxiranes, and models to explain the observed trends in stereocontrol have proved more difficult to construct. One complication is the possibility of formation of diastereomeric oxaziridinium salts from most of the iminium catalysts. Houk has rationalized computationally the observed enantioselectivity with Aggarwal s catalyst 16 [46]. The results of a recent study by Breslow suggest that hydrophobic interactions are important in these processes [48], and aromatic-aromatic interactions between catalyst and substrate may also play a role. 

The explanation for these experimental results, i.e. the lack of label transfer, is that the tetrahedral species (A) resulting from the addition of HSOf to the carbonyl group is capable of epoxidation. Ring closure of (A) is likely to be the rate-determining step in dioxirane formation. This work is important from a synthetic viewpoint, since it is crucial in the development of chiral ketones for the catalytic asymmetric epoxidation and the design of probes of transition state stereoselectivities that the nature of the oxidizing species is understood. 

---