Regio-, Diastereo-, and Chemoselectivities in the Dioxirane Oxidation of Acyclic and Cyclic Allylic Alcohols by Methyl(trifluoromethyl)dioxirane (TFD): A Comparison with Dimethyldioxirane

The solvent-dependent shift in the regioselectivity of the geraniol epoxidation by methyl(trifluoromethyl)dioxirane (TFD) reveals that as for the less reactive dimethyldioxirane (DMD), hydrogen bonding stabilizes the transition state of the epoxidation. In protic media, the hydrogen bonding is exerted intermolecularly by the solvent, whereas in unpolar, non-hydrogen-bonding solvents intramolecular assistance through the adjacent hydroxy functionality comes into the play and the attack on the allylic alcohol moiety is favored. For chiral allylic alcohols, additional steric interactions control the π-facial selectivity in the conformationally fixed transition state. Analogous to DMD, the preferred dihedral angle in the hydrogen-bonded transition state of the TFD epoxidation constitutes approximately 130°, but contrary to DMD and for synthetic purposes important, the allylic alcohols and derivatives 1 and 3−5 investigated here are chemoselectively epoxidized by TFD without formation of the corresponding enones.