Nader Ghaffari
Khalig
*
Chemistry Department, University of Guilan, Rasht, PO Box 41335-19141, Iran. E-mail: ngkhaligh@gmil.com; ngkhaligh@guilan.ac.ir; Fax: +98 21 66934046; Tel: +98 21 66431738
First published on 23rd February 2012
An efficient methodology for ring opening of epoxides in alcohols, water and acetic acid promoted by poly(4-vinylpyridine) supported iodine under neutral conditions, has been demonstrated. The reactions occur with high regioselectivity. The products were obtained in good to excellent yields. The reaction of optically active styrene oxide with P(4-VPI)+I3− in methanol was found to be very stereospecific and the product was isolated in 88% ee. This catalyst is stable and can be easily regenerated and used.
Iodine has been attracting much attention since its discovery in 1811. It is the weakest oxidizer among the halogens and a poor electrophile that often needs the assistance of a strong acid or oxidizer. Iodine has several advantages over the vast majority of the other Lewis-acid catalysts, especially the metallic catalysts. Its catalytic potential is intriguingly broad; it is a water-tolerant, relatively cheap catalyst. Another distinctive feature of iodine is its high catalytic activity in dilute solutions, under highly concentrated reaction conditions (HCRC) as well as under solvent-free reaction conditions (SFRC). The latter reaction conditions are particularly important in terms of green chemistry; they contribute to waste-and health-hazard minimization and cost efficiency. For a long time iodine has been recognized as a good catalyst and reagent in carbohydrate chemistry.5,6 Different aspects of iodine chemistry have been reviewed; four reviews in Chinese7–10 on iodine as a catalyst11 and the use of iodine in protection–deprotection12 chemistry have been published.
Epoxides are versatile intermediates in synthetic organic chemistry and can be opened under a variety of conditions.13 The most practical and widely employed strategy for the synthesis of 1,2-bifunctional compounds was via nucleophilic ring opening using a Lewis acid or a strong base.14–20 Epoxide ring opening reactions to give β-substituted alcohols with carbon- and heteroatomic nucleophiles, rearrangement reactions providing carbonyl compounds, and isomerization reactions leading to allylic alcohols were useful tools in organic synthesis. Several reagents have been reported in the literature that can promote ring opening of epoxides.21–33 In most of the epoxide ring opening reactions under acidic conditions, the formation of a mixture of regioisomers and polymerization were observed. Some of the reported catalysts suffered from disadvantages such as high acidity, the non-catalytic nature of the reagents, long reaction times and inconvenient handling.34,35 Therefore, the introduction of new methods for the nucleophilic ring opening of epoxides, which work under mild conditions, is important in synthetic organic chemistry.
In continuation of our ongoing research program on the development of new catalyst and methods for organic transformations,36 in this study we decided to prepare quaternized poly(4-vinylpyridine) supported iodine and show that it can act as an efficient catalyst for ring opening of epoxides in alcohols, water and acetic acid. This material will be referred here as P(4-VPI)+I3− (Scheme 1). In the presence of the P(4-VPI)+I3−, the products were obtained with high regioselectivity under neutral conditions in high yields with the advantage of overcoming the problem of handling and sublimation of iodine.
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| Scheme 1 The preparation of the poly(4-vinylpyridine) supported iodine. | ||
C and νC
N stretching in pyridine ring appeared.37 On the other hand, the presence of an extra iodine atom on nitrogen atom of pyridine moiety in the P(4-VPI)+ increased the number of vibrational modes and brought completely different FTIR spectrum.38 The observed spectrum displayed the expected transitions due to P(4-VP), but also a second, prominent series of sharp transitions was observed, red-or blue-shifted similar to those of the P(4-VP) polymer (e.g. those related to the P(4-VP) at 997.13, 1068.49, and 1218.93 cm−1, see Fig. 1), but generally with larger absolute shifts. On the basis of a comparison with literature spectra,39 these transitions can be attributed to the poly(N-iodo-4-vinylpyridinium) cation P(4-VPI)+. As shown in Fig. 1 the bands at 1554.52 and 1413.72 cm−1 disappeared whereas a strong band at 1639.38 cm−1, related to P(4-VPI)+ appeared. The observed effect may be therefore ascribed to “some changes in aromatic ring” as a consequence of P(4-VPI)+ formation. Thus, treatment of P(4-VP) with ethanolic solution of iodine resulted in iodination of the pyridine units of the polymer.
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| Fig. 1 FTIR spectra of poly(4-vinylpyridine) (bottom) and poly(N-iodo-4-vinylpyridinium)triiodide (top). | ||
Reid and Mullikan40 reported in 1954 that the absorbance of the pyridine–iodine complex in pure pyridine (k = 290) in the 422 nm band shift slowly, increasing in intensity. They attributed it to the conversion of the initially-formed charge-transfer complex (outer complex) into an “inner complex”. Also ionic side reactions, such as
| (pyridine) + I |
| 2 |
| → [(pyridine)I] |
| + |
| + I |
| − |
| , |
| or 2(pyridine) + I2 → [(pyridine)2I]+ + I3−, |
In order to show the general applicability of the method for the ring opening of epoxides with structurally different alcohols, water and acetic acid, we studied the reaction of the solvolysis of different classes of epoxides. We applied similar reaction conditions for the solvolysis of the epoxides in the presence of this catalyst. NMR and GC analysis showed that the reactions were highly regioselective in the presence of P(4-VPI)+I3−.
In order to show the effect of increased temperature, the reaction of methanolysis of 1,2-epoxy-3-phenoxypropane (1b) and 1,2-epoxycyclohexane (1c) were studied (Table 2, entries 8, 9 and 16, 17). As shown, the reaction rates were considerably increased but the reaction yields were slightly increased.
| Entry | Epoxide | Solvent | Product (ratio 2g : 2h)a |
Time (min)/T (°C) | Yield (%)b |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| a All products were identified by comparison of their physical and spectral data with those of authentic samples.37,39 b GC yields. c R(+)-styrene oxide [α]D = +33.0 (undiluted), from Aldrich, was used without further purification. d Value not corrected for the optical purity of the starting material and determined according to the literature.42 | |||||
| 1 | 1a | MeOH | 100 : 0 |
20 (20, 25, 25)/25 | 92 (92,90,86) |
| 2 | 1a | EtOH | 100 : 0 |
20/25 | 80 |
| 3 | 1a | n-PrOH | 100 : 0 |
20/25 | 81 |
| 4 | 1a | i-PrOH | 100 : 0 |
28/25 | 80 |
| 5 | 1a | t-BuOH | 100 : 0 |
32/25 | 75 |
| 6 | 1a | H2O–MeCN | 1,2-diol | 32/60 | 90 |
| 7 | 1a | AcOH | 100 : 0 |
16/60 | 68 |
| 8 | 1b | MeOH | 0 : 100 |
16/25 | 82 |
| 9 | 1b | MeOH | 0 : 100 |
10/65 | 94 |
| 10 | 1b | EtOH | 0 : 100 |
25/65 | 86 |
| 11 | 1b | n-PrOH | 0 : 100 |
22/65 | 85 |
| 12 | 1b | i-PrOH | 0 : 100 |
25/65 | 81 |
| 13 | 1b | t-BuOH | 0 : 100 |
28/65 | 67 |
| 14 | 1b | H2O–MeCN | 1,2-diol | 32/65 | 94 |
| 15 | 1b | AcOH | 0 : 100 |
32/65 | 86 |
| 16 | 1c | MeOH | trans | 25/25 | 82 |
| 17 | 1c | MeOH | trans | 15/65 | 87 |
| 18 | 1c | EtOH | trans | 15/65 | 82 |
| 19 | 1c | n-PrOH | trans | 28/65 | 80 |
| 20 | 1c | i-PrOH | trans | 32/65 | 78 |
| 21 | 1c | t-BuOH | trans | 32/65 | 58 |
| 22 | 1c | H2O–MeCN | trans | 32/65 | 89 |
| 23 | 1c | AcOH | trans | 26/65 | 89 |
| 24 | 1d | MeOH | 0 : 100 |
25/25 | 87 |
| 25 | 1d | EtOH | 0 : 100 |
28/65 | 80 |
| 26 | 1d | n-PrOH | 0 : 100 |
28/65 | 80 |
| 27 | 1d | i-PrOH | 0 : 100 |
28/65 | 78 |
| 28 | 1d | t-BuOH | 0 : 100 |
32/65 | 75 |
| 29 | 1d | H2O–MeCN | 1,2-diol | 32/65 | 76 |
| 30 | 1d | AcOH | 0 : 100 |
28/65 | 85 |
| 31 | 1e | MeOH | 0 : 100 |
23/25 | 84 |
| 32 | 1e | EtOH | 0 : 100 |
38/65 | 88 |
| 33 | 1e | n-PrOH | 0 : 100 |
38/65 | 82 |
| 34 | 1e | i-PrOH | 0 : 100 |
40/65 | 78 |
| 35 | 1e | t-BuOH | 0 : 100 |
45/65 | 70 |
| 36 | 1e | H2O–MeCN | 1,2-diol | 45/65 | 82 |
| 37 | 1e | AcOH | 0 : 100 |
32/65 | 82 |
| 38 | 1f | MeOH | 0 : 100 |
50/25 | 80 |
| 39 | 1f | EtOH | 0 : 100 |
50/65 | 84 |
| 40 | 1f | n-PrOH | 0 : 100 |
55/65 | 81 |
| 41 | 1f | i-PrOH | 0 : 100 |
55/65 | 78 |
| 42 | 1f | t-BuOH | 0 : 100 |
55/65 | 72 |
| 43 | 1f | H2O–MeCN | 1,2-diol | 70/65 | 82 |
| 44 | 1f | AcOH | 0 : 100 |
50/65 | 88 |
| 45 | R-(+)-styrene oxide | MeOH | S-(+)-2-methoxy-2-phenyl ethanolc | 65/25 | 92 (88% e.e.)d |
Also shown, the polarity of solvent has a slight effect on the rate and yield of the reactions (Table 2, entries 1,5). The proticity of the solvent decreased the rate of the reaction and slightly effected on yield of the reaction (Table 2, entries 1,7). The explanation for this result may be due to the protonation of pyridine moieties of polymer and also there can be a possibility of formation hydrogen iodide in the reaction as by-product which will reduce the reactivity.
In order to see the effect of polar electron-withdrawing groups adjacent to the epoxide's ring, the reactions of 1,2-epoxy-3-chloropropane (1f) were studied (Scheme 2). As expected, the reaction rates were considerably decreased. All of these reactions were performed at 65 °C (Table 2, entries 38–42). In all of these reactions only one regioisomer was obtained.
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| Scheme 2 The ring opening the epoxides in different alcohols, water and acetic acid. | ||
For 1,2-epoxy-3-isopropoxypropane (1e), which has a deactivating group containing an ethereal linkage, all of the reactions were performed at 65 °C (Table 2, entries 32–37). Cleavage of ethereal linkage was not observed in these reactions.
Reactions of styrene oxide as an active epoxide were carried out at room temperature with methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol, 2-propanol and 2-methyl-2-propanol in the presence 10 mg (∼0.036 mmol) of P(4-VPI)+I3−, which afforded 2-alkoxy-2-phenyl ethanol in 75–94% isolated yields within 20–32 min with trace formation of other regioisomers (Table 2, entries 1–5).
The reactions of 1,2-epoxycyclohexane (Scheme 2, 1c) were slightly slower than those of styrene oxide. Although the reactions of primary and secondary alcohols were nearly complete in about 15–32 min in the presence of 10 mg of the catalyst at room temperature or 65 °C (Table 2, entries 16–21), in 2-methyl-2-propanol a decrease in the reaction rate was observed and trans-2-t-butoxycyclohexanol was obtained after 32 min in only 58% yield. In all of the reactions involving cyclohexene oxide only trans products were obtained.
Alcoholysis of other epoxides, such as 1,2-epoxy-3-phenoxypropane (1b) and 1,2-epoxy-3-allyloxypropane (1d) were performed (Table 2, entries 8–13 and 24–29). The results showed that the ethereal linkage and the double bond remain intact during the course of the alcoholysis reaction of the epoxide ring. For these unsymmetrical epoxides, the alkoxy group is incorporated preferentially at the less-hindered epoxide carbon atom.
Epoxides were converted to the corresponding diols as the sole product in the presence of 10 mg of P(4-VPI)+I3− in an acetonitrile–water mixture (Table 2, entries 6, 14, 22, 29, 36, 43). All of these reactions were performed at 65 °C.
Different classes of epoxides were converted to their corresponding β-acetoxy alcohols in the presence of 10 mg P(4-VPI)+I3− as a catalyst in acetic acid (Table 2, entries 7,15,23,30,37,44). The reactions of epoxides required high temperature (65 °C) for complete conversion to their corresponding β-acetoxy alcohols. As shown in Table 2, a highly regioselective formation of β-acetoxy alcohols was observed in all cases involving unsymmetrical epoxides.
In the case of unsymmetrical epoxides, the reactions were regioselective, and the attack of the nucleophile on the less substituted oxirane carbon yielded 2h type products (Scheme 2). The only exception was the alcoholysis and acetolysis of styrene oxide, in which the reactions occurred on the more substituted carbon and 2g type products were produced (Scheme 2). In the case of active epoxides and when the alcohol has a higher nucleophilicity, the reactions were carried out at room temperature.
As shown in Table 2, solvolysis of alkyl substituted epoxides occurs much faster than those epoxides carrying an electron-withdrawing substituent. Identification of these compounds was done by comparison with authentic samples, which were prepared according to known procedures.37,39
In order to elucidate the stereospecificity of the P(4-VPI)+I3− catalyzed ring opening of epoxides, the reaction of optically active R(+)-styrene oxide was studied with iodine (9 mg ∼0.036 mmol) and P(4-VPI)+I3− (10 mg, ∼0.036 mmol) (Table 2, entry 45). We observed that R-(+)-styrene oxide (> 98% e.e.) reacts enantioselectivity with inversion of configuration on the benzylic center to provide S-(+)-2-methoxy-2-phenyl ethanol (92%, 88% e.e.). The highest optical purity was obtained in an enantiopure form in high yield and under high regioselectivity by using P(4-VPI)+I3− at room temperature. The optical rotation of the product was determined and compared with that reported in the literature.42 Using elemental iodine for methanolysis of R-(+)-styrene oxide (> 98% e.e.) at room temperature, the optical purity of the product obtained was not high (34.4% e.e.).
The competitive ring opening reaction of styrene oxide (1a) and 1,2-epoxycyclohexane (1c) in the presence of the 1,2-epoxy-3-phenoxypropane (1b), 1,2-epoxy-3-allyloxypropane (1d), 1,2-epoxy-3-isopropoxypropane (1e) and 1,2-epoxy-3-chloropropane epoxides (1f), was observed with very high selectivity (Table 3, entries 1–8). Styrene oxide (1a) and 1,2-epoxycyclohexane (1c) reacted quantitatively while epoxides carrying electron-withdrawing substituents and deactivating groups (1b, 1d, 1e and 1f) remained intact. However, the reaction of styrene oxide (1a) in presence of 1,2-epoxycyclohexane (1c) in methanol show no selectivity under these conditions (Table 3, entry 9).
| Entry | Epoxide mixture | Time (min)/T (°C) | % Conversion of epoxidea | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a GC conversion (the percentage of epoxide that has reacted). | ||||
| 1 | 1a + 1b | 25/25 | 100 (1a) | 0.0 (1b) |
| 2 | 1a + 1d | 25/25 | 100 (1a) | 0.0 (1d) |
| 3 | 1a + 1f | 40/25 | 100 (1a) | 0.0 (1f) |
| 4 | 1a + 1e | 40/25 | 100 (1a) | 0.0 (1e) |
| 5 | 1c + 1b | 25/25 | 100 (1c) | 0.0 (1b) |
| 6 | 1c + 1d | 25/25 | 100 (1c) | 0.0 (1d) |
| 7 | 1c + 1f | 40/25 | 100 (1c) | 0.0 (1f) |
| 8 | 1c + 1e | 40/25 | 100 (1c) | 0.0 (1e) |
| 9 | 1a + 1c | 25/25 | 100 (1a) | 62 (1c) |
In order to show the merit of the presented protocol for the ring opening of epoxides with alcohols, we have compared the results obtained using P(4-VPI)+I3− with some of those reported in the literature for the reaction of 1,2-epoxy-3-phenoxypropane (1b) with methanol as tabulated in Table 4.
:
1 molecular complex between P(4-VP) and elemental iodine (outer complex). This complex was further dissociated to release poly(N-iodo-4-vinylpyridinium) cation and triiodide anion (inner complex). Therefore, in this way, molecular iodine was converted to poly(N-iodo-4-vinylpyridinium) cation and polyiodide anion I2n+1− in the presence of the P(4-VP) and, in the second step, the poly(N-iodo-4-vinylpyridinium) and polyiodide ions participated in the ring opening of the epoxides. Polyiodides were capable of complexing oxygen functional groups. Ring opening of epoxides can occur via two mechanistic pathways, either nucleophilic attack by triiodide anion on the less sterically hindered epoxide carbon or via nucleophilic attack by O atom of hydroxyl group on P(4-VPI)+-epoxide complex, giving the transition state (A) (Scheme 3). On the other hand, electrophilic attack by molecular iodine, behaving as Lewis acid, leads to a mixture of 2g and 2h products. According to the mechanism, in P(4-VP) complexation with molecular iodine and, hence, elaboration of triiodide ion occurred much faster than the other way. After work-up, the catalyst could be recovered easily and could be reused several times.
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| Scheme 3 A plausible mechanism for the reaction. | ||
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