Steric and electronic effects in the diastereoselective catalytic epoxidation of cyclic allylic alcohols with methyltrioxorhenium (MTO)

The steric effects of allylic substituents in the epoxidations with methyltrioxorhenium/urea/hydrogen peroxide adduct (MTO/UHP) have been assessed for a series of 3-alkyl-substituted cyclohexenes. The trans selectivity increases with the size of the substituent and the diastereoselectivities follow an excellent linear correlation with the steric substituent constants of Taft (E-s) or Charton (v). Good cis selectivity is observed in the epoxidation of the cyclic allylic alcohols 2-cyclopentenol and 2-cyclohexenol due to a hydroxy-directing effect through hydrogen bonding; however, for 2-cycloheptenol and 2-cyclooctenol hydrogen bonding is ineffective and steric interactions cause a higher trans selectivity. The conformationally fixed cis- and trans-5-tert-butyl-2-cyclohexenols serve as suitable substrates for gauging the dihedral angle of the transition states for the oxygen transfer in these epoxidations. Thus, the MTO/UHP oxidant favours a quasi-equatorial arrangement of the hydroxy group for effective hydrogen bonding (hydroxy-group directivity), in analogy to m-chloroperbenzoic acid (m-CPBA) and dimethyldioxirane (DMD), and a dihedral angle of ca. 130 degrees is suggested.