Catalytic enantioselective epoxidation with arabinose-derived uloses containing tunable steric sensors

Readily available arabinose-derived 4-uloses, containing a tunable butane-2,3-diacetal as the steric sensor, displayed increasing enantioselectivity (up to 93% ee) with the size of the acetal alkyl group in catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of trans-disubstituted and trisubstituted alkenes.     

Catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes with arabinose-derived ketones containing a cyclohexane-1,2-diacetal

The effect of diol blocking groups, cyclohexane-1,2-diacetal verses butane-1,2-diacetal, on the asymmetric epoxidation of trans- and cis-alkenes by arabinose-derived ketones is reported. The ketone catalysts with a cyclohexane-1,2-acetal display similar asymmetric induction as those catalysts with a butane-1,2-diacetal in most cases. For (E)-1-benzyloxy-4-hexene, the ee of the enantioselective epoxidation has reached 61% with the cyclohexane-1,2-dineopentyl acetal ketone catalyst.     

Biomimetic iron-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of aromatic alkenes by using hydrogen peroxide

A novel and general biomimetic non-heme Fe-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of aromatic alkenes by using hydrogen peroxide is reported herein. The catalyst consists of ferric chloride hexahydrate (FeCl(3)6 H(2)O), pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid (H(2)(pydic)), and readily accessible chiral N-arenesulfonyl-N'-benzyl-substituted ethylenediamine ligands. The asymmetric epoxidation of styrenes with this system gave high conversions but poor enantiomeric excesses (ee), whereas larger alkenes gave high conversions and ee values. For the epoxidation of trans-stilbene (1 a), the ligands (S,S)-N-(4-toluenesulfonyl)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine ((S,S)-4 a) and its N'-benzylated derivative ((S,S)-5 a) gave opposite enantiomers of trans-stilbene oxide, that is, (S,S)-2 a and (R,R)-2 a, respectively. The enantioselectivity of alkene epoxidation is controlled by steric and electronic factors, although steric effects are more dominant. Preliminary mechanistic studies suggest the in situ formation of several chiral Fe-complexes, such as [FeCl(L*)(2)(pydic)]HCl (L*=(S,S)-4 a or (S,S)-5 a in the catalyst mixture), which were identified by ESIMS. A UV/Vis study of the catalyst mixture, which consisted of FeCl(3)6 H(2)O, H(2)(pydic), and (S,S)-4 a, suggested the formation of a new species with an absorbance peak at lambda=465 nm upon treatment with hydrogen peroxide. With the aid of two independent spin traps, we could confirm by EPR spectroscopy that the reaction proceeds via radical intermediates. Kinetic studies with deuterated styrenes showed inverse secondary kinetic isotope effects, with values of k(H)/k(D)=0.93 for the beta carbon and k(H)/k(D)=0.97 for the alpha carbon, which suggested an unsymmetrical transition state with stepwise O transfer. Competitive epoxidation of para-substituted styrenes revealed a linear dual-parameter Hammett plot with a slope of 1.00. Under standard conditions, epoxidation of 1 a in the presence of ten equivalents of H(2) (18)O resulted in an absence of the isotopic label in (S,S)-2 a. A positive nonlinear effect was observed during the epoxidation of 1 a in the presence of (S,S)-5 a and (R,R)-5 a.     

Carbohydrate-derived iminium salt organocatalysts for the asymmetric epoxidation of alkenes

A new family of carbohydrate-based dihydroisoquinolinium salts has been prepared and tested for potential as asymmetric catalysts for the epoxidation of unfunctionalized alkene substrates, providing up to 57% ee in the product epoxides.     

Copolymers of polystyrene—New polymer supports for asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols

Tartrate‐functionalized polystyrene copolymers were prepared with divinyl benzene, tetraethyleneglycol diacrylate, and diallyl tartrate as the crosslinking agents. These insoluble materials possessed the unique advantages of heterogeneous reagents. These resins were used to support the asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohols along with titanium tetraisopropoxide and tert‐butyl hydroperoxide with reasonably good yields and a high enantiomeric excess. The swelling behavior and molecular architecture of the polymer backbone significantly influenced the effectiveness of the catalyst. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 161–169, 2000     

Enantioselective total syntheses of (+)-decursin and related natural compounds using catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of an enone

The enantioselective total syntheses of (+)-decursin (1) and related natural dihydropyranocoumarins (−)-prantschimgin (3), (+)-decursinol (4), and (+)-marmesin (5) were achieved for the first time using catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of an enone as the key step. Catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of the enone was effectively promoted by the novel multifunctional asymmetric catalyst generated from La(O-i-Pr)₃, BINOL, and Ph₃AsO in a 1:1:1 ratio to afford epoxide in 94% yield and 96% ee, which was recrystallized to give optically pure epoxide. After conversion to the common key intermediate (−)-peucedanol (7), all natural dihydropyranocoumarins were synthesized through palladium-catalyzed intramolecular C-O coupling reactions. A possible reaction mechanism of the catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of enones is also described based on X-ray analysis, laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry, kinetic studies, and asymmetric amplification studies.     

Catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid imidazolides and amides by lanthanide–BINOL complexes

Highly enantioselective catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acid imidazolides and simple amides was developed. In the presence of 5–10 mol% of lanthanide–BINOL complexes, the reaction proceeded smoothly with high substrate generality. In particular, in the cases of α,β-unsaturated amides, there was nearly perfect enantioselectivity (>99% ee). The corresponding epoxides were successfully transformed into many types of useful chiral compounds such as α,β-epoxy esters, α,β-epoxy amides, α,β-epoxy aldehydes, α,β-epoxy β-keto ester, and α- and β-hydroxy carbonyl compounds. B3LYP density functional studies were performed to predict substrate reactivity.     

Zinc-mediated asymmetric epoxidation of nitro alkenes with oxygen

The asymmetric epoxidation of nitro alkenes using oxygen in the presence of diethylzinc and N-methyl pseudo-ephedrine as a chiral additive is reported. This method provides an access to 3-substituted trans-2-nitro oxiranes of excellent diastereomeric purity (de≥98%) and with medium to good enantiomeric excesses (ee=36–82%).     

Rhodium acetate-catalyzed aerobic Mukaiyama epoxidation of alkenes

Mukaiyama epoxidation of alkenes under oxygen catalyzed by rhodium acetate with isobutyraldehyde as the reducing agent is as or more effective than previously reported procedures. A variety of alkenes, including terpenes and cholesterol derivatives, were oxidized. And high regioselectivity for monoepoxidation was observed with neryl, geranyl, and linalyl acetates.     

Electronically tuned chiral ruthenium porphyrins: extremely stable and selective catalysts for asymmetric epoxidation and cyclopropanation

We report the use of three enantiomerically pure and electronically tuned ruthenium carbonyl porphyrin catalysts for the asymmetric cyclopropanation and epoxidation of a variety of olefinic substrates. The D(4)-symmetric ligands carry a methoxy, a methyl or a trifluoromethyl group at the 10-position of each of the 9-[anti-(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octahydro-1,4:5,8-dimethanoanthracene)]-substituents at the meso-positions of the porphyrin. Introduction of a CF(3)-substituent in this remote position resulted in greatly improved catalyst stability, and turnover numbers of up to 7500 were achieved for cyclopropanation, and up to 14,200 for epoxidation, with ee values typically >90 % and approximately equal to 80 %, respectively. In one example, the axial CO ligand at the ruthenium was exchanged for PF(3), resulting in the first chiral ruthenium porphyrin with a PF(3) ligand reported to date. In cyclopropanations with ethyl diazoacetate, the latter catalyst performed exceedingly well, and gave a 95 % ee in the case of 1,1-diphenylethylene as substrate.     

非血红素N4配体Mn(III)配合物催化烯烃的不对称环氧化反应

利用Mn(OAc)3与手性四氮配体制备了非血红素N4配体的Mn(Ⅲ)配合物,并将其应用于催化α,β-不饱和烯酮和简单烯烃的不对称环氧化反应,考察了氧化剂H2O2的量和添加剂HOAc的量等条件对反应结果的影响,研究了该催化剂的底物适用范围,获得了51%~94%的ee值.     

Stereodivergent total asymmetric synthesis of polyhydroxylated pyrrolidines via tandem allylic epoxidation and intramolecular cyclization reactions

Epoxidation of the allylic alcohols 10 and 11 using the VO(acac)₂/t-BuOOH system followed by an intramolecular 5-exo cyclization of the resulting δ-epoxycarbamates 12, 13, 18, and 19 has been shown to provide a general and efficient solution for the asymmetric synthesis of polyhydroxy pyrrolidines. The requisite vicinal amino alcohol functionality was enantio-/regio-selectively installed by the Os-catalyzed asymmetric aminohydroxylation reaction of the designed achiral olefin 6.     

Toward a computational tool predicting the stereochemical outcome of asymmetric reactions: development of the molecular mechanics-based program ACE and application to asymmetric epoxidation reactions

The development and application of ACE, a program that predicts the stereochemical outcome of asymmetric reactions is presented. As major implementations, ACE includes a genetic algorithm to carry out an efficient global conformational search combined with a conjugate gradient minimization routine for local optimization and a corner flap algorithm to search ring conformations. Further improvements have been made that enable ACE to generate Boltzmann populations of conformations, to investigate highly asynchronous reactions, to compute fluctuating partial atomic charges and solvation energy and to automatically construct reactants and products from libraries of catalysts and substrates. Validation on previously investigated reactions (asymmetric Diels Alder cycloadditions and organocatalyzed aldol reactions) followed by application to a number of alkene epoxidation reactions and a comparative study of DFT-derived and ACE-derived predictions demonstrate the accuracy and usefulness of ACE in the context of asymmetric catalyst design.