A Trifunctional Catalyst for One-Pot Synthesis of Chiral Diols via Heck Coupling−N-Oxidation−Asymmetric Dihydroxylation:  Application for the Synthesis of Diltiazem and Taxol Side Chain (2003)

A heterogeneous bifunctional catalyst composed of OsO4(2-)-WO4(2-) and a trifunctional catalyst comprising PdCl4(2-)-OsO4(2-)-WO4(2-), designed and prepared by an ion-exchange technique using layered double hydroxides (LDH) as an ion-exchanger and their homogeneous bifunctional analogue, K2OsO4-Na2WO4 and trifunctional analogue, Na2PdCl4-K2OsO4-Na2WO4, devised for the first time are evaluated for the synthesis of chiral vicinal diols. These bifunctional and trifunctional catalysts perform asymmetric dihydroxylation-N-oxidation and Heck-asymmetric dihydroxylation-N-oxidation, respectively, in the presence of Sharpless chiral ligand, (DHQD)2PHAL in a single pot using H2O2 as a terminal oxidant to provide N-methylmorpholine oxide (NMO) in situ by the oxidation of N-methylmorpholine (NMM). The heterogeneous bifunctional catalyst supported on LDH (LDH-OsW) displays superior activity to afford diols with higher yields over the other heterogeneous catalysts developed by the ion exchange on quaternary ammonium salts covalently bound to resin (resin-OsW) and silica (silica-OsW) or homogeneous catalysts in the achiral dihydroxylation reactions. The LDH-OsW and its homogeneous analogue are found to be very efficient in performing a simultaneous asymmetric dihydroxylation (AD)-N-oxidation of a wide and varied range of aromatic, cyclic, and mono, di-, and trisubstituted olefins to obtain chiral vicinal diols with higher yields and ee's using H2O2. Further, the use of OsO4(2-)-WO4(2-) catalysts as such or in the supported form offers a simplified procedure for catalyst recycling, which shows consistent activity for a number of cycles. In this process, Os(VI) is recycled to Os(VIII) by a coupled electron transfer-mediator (ETM) system based on NMO-WO4(2-) using H2O2, leading to a mild and selective electron transfer. The one-pot biomimic synthesis of chiral diols is mediated by a recyclable trifunctional heterogeneous catalyst (LDH-PdOsW) consisting of active palladium, tungsten, and osmium species embedded in a single matrix. This protocol, which provides prochiral olefins and NMO in situ by Heck coupling and N-oxidation of NMM, respectively, required for the AD, unfolds a low cost process. We extended the present method to the one-pot synthesis of trisubstituted chiral vicinal diols with moderate to excellent ee's by AD of trisubstituted olefins that are obtained by in situ Heck arylation of disubstituted olefins. The heterogeneous trifunctional catalysts offers chiral diols with unprecedented ee's and excellent yields in the AD of prochiral cinnamates, which are obtained in situ from acrylates and halobenzenes for the first time. The new variants such as LDH support and Et3N*HX inherently composed in the heterogeneous multicomponent system and slow addition of H2O2 facilitates the hydrolysis of osmium monogylcolate ester to subdue the formation of bisglycolate ester to achieve higher ee's. Without resorting to recrystallization, the chiral diols of cinnamates thus synthesized with 99% ee's and devoid of osmium contamination are directly put to use in the synthesis of diltiazem and Taxol side chain with an overall improved yield to demonstrate the synthetic utility of the trifunctional heterogeneous catalyst. The high binding ability of the heterogeneous osmium catalyst enables the use of equimolar ratio of ligand to osmium to give excellent ee's in AD in contrast to the homogeneous osmium system in which the excess molar quantities of the expensive chiral ligand to osmium are invariably used. Further, the XRD, FT-IR, UV-vis DRS, and XPS studies indicate the retention of the coordination geometries of the specific divalent anions anchored to LDH matrix in their monomeric form during the ion exchange and after the reaction.