Abstract
[Reaction: see text] In 1980, Sharpless and Katsuki introduced the asymmetric epoxidation of prochiral allylic alcohols (the Sharpless-Katsuki asymmetric epoxidation), which enabled the rapid synthesis of highly enantioenriched epoxy alcohols. This reaction was a milestone in the development of asymmetric catalysis because it was the first highly enantioselective oxidation reaction. Furthermore, it provided access to enantioenriched allylic alcohols that are now standard starting materials in natural product synthesis. In 1981, Sharpless and co-workers made another seminal contribution by describing the kinetic resolution (KR) of racemic allylic alcohols. This work demonstrated that small-molecule catalysts could compete with enzymatic catalysts in KRs. For these pioneering works, Sharpless was awarded the 2001 Nobel Prize with Knowles and Noyori. Despite these achievements, the Sharpless KR is not an efficient method to prepare epoxy alcohols with high enantiomeric excess (ee). First, the racemic allylic alcohol must be prepared and purified. KR of the racemic allylic alcohol must be stopped at low conversion, because the ee of the product epoxy alcohol decreases as the KR progresses. Thus, better methods to prepare epoxy alcohols containing stereogenic carbinol carbons are needed. This Account summarizes our efforts to develop one-pot methods for the synthesis of various epoxy alcohols and allylic epoxy alcohols with high enantio-, diastereo-, and chemoselectivity. Our laboratory developed titanium-based catalysts for use in the synthesis of epoxy alcohols with tertiary carbinols. The catalysts are involved in the first step, which is an asymmetric alkyl or allyl addition to enones. The resulting intermediates are then subjected to a titanium-directed diastereoselective epoxidation to provide tertiary epoxy alcohols. Similarly, the synthesis of acyclic epoxy alcohols begins with asymmetric additions to enals and subsequent epoxidation. The methods described here enable the synthesis of skeletally diverse epoxy alcohols.