title: A catalytic asymmetric synthesis of chiral glycidic acid derivatives through chiral dioxirane-mediated catalytic asymmetric epoxidation of cinnamic acid derivatives.
abstract: A novel and practical asymmetric synthesis of chiral glycidic acid derivatives involving methyl (2R,3S)-3-(4-methoxyphenyl)glycidate ((2R,3S)-2a), a key intermediate for diltiazem hydrochloride (1), was developed. Treatment of methyl (E)-4-methoxycinnamate ((E)-3a) with chiral dioxirane, generated in situ from a catalytic amount (5 mol %) of an 11-membered C(2)-symmetric binaphthyl ketone (R)-7a, provided (2R,3S)-2a in 92% yield and 80% ee. Other cinnamic acid esters and amides were epoxidized by the use of the same procedure to give the corresponding chiral glycidic acid derivatives with up to 95% yield and 92% ee. Higher enantioselectivities in the asymmetric epoxidation of (E)-cinnamates than that of (E)-stilbene derivatives were observed and were proposed to be attributed to a dipole-dipole repulsion between oxygen atoms of an ester group in the cinnamates and those of the lactone moieties in the binaphthyl dioxirane.
authors.affiliation: Medicinal Research Laboratories, Tanabe Seiyaku Co, Ltd., 3-16-89, Kashima, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka 532-8505, Japan.
authors.forename: Ritsuo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Imashiro
authors.forename: Masahiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seki