Chiral hydroperoxides as oxygen source in the catalytic stereoselective epoxidation of allylic alcohols by sandwich-type polyoxometalates: Control of enantioselectivity through a metal-coordinated template

Waldemar Adam, Paul L. Alsters, Ronny Neumann, Chantu R. Saha-Möller, Dieter Seebach, Albert K. Beck, Rui Zhang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

65 Scopus citations

Abstract

The epoxidation of allylic alcohols is shown to be efficiently and selectively catalyzed by the oxidatively resistant sandwich-type polyoxometalates, POMs, namely [WZnM2(ZnW9O 34)2]q- [M = OV(IV), Mn(II), Ru(III), Fe(III), Pd(II), Pt(II), Zn(II); q = 10-12], with organic hydroperoxides as oxygen source. Conspicuous is the fact that the nature of the transition metal M in the central ring of polyoxometalate affects significantly the reactivity, chemoselectivity, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity of the allylic alcohol epoxidation. For the first time, it is demonstrated that the oxovanadium(IV)-substituted POM, namely [ZnW(VO)2(ZnW 9O34)2]12-, is a highly chemoselective, regioselective, and also stereoselective catalyst for the clean epoxidation of allylic alcohols. A high enantioselectivity (er values up to 95:5) has been achieved with [ZnW(VO)2(ZnW9O 34)2]12- and the sterically demanding TADOOL-derived hydroperoxide TADOOH as regenerative chiral oxygen source. Thus, a POM-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of excellent catalytic efficiency (up to 42 000 TON) has been made available for the development of sustainable oxidation processes. The high reactivity and selectivity of this unprecedented oxygen-transfer process are mechanistically rationalized in terms of a peroxy-type vanadium(V) template.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)8222-8231
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Organic Chemistry
Volume68
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - 17 Oct 2003
Externally publishedYes

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