Catalytic Dihydroxylation of Olefins with Hydrogen Peroxide: An Organic-Solvent- and Metal-Free System

Article abstract of DOI:10.1002/anie.200352568

Green and convenient: Olefins are oxidized to 1,2-diols in high yield with 30% H₂O₂ in the presence of resin-supported sulfonic acid (see scheme) under metal-free conditions without any organic solvent. The catalyst can be recycled easily and is effective for at least 10 cycles.

Full text of DOI:10.1002/anie.200352568

Angewandte
Chemie
an ideal oxidant, because the atom efficiency is excellent and
water is theoretically the sole by-product. However, H2O2 can
be a clean oxidant only if it is used in a controlled manner
without organic solvents and other toxic compounds.[10] In this
context, we developed various oxidation reactions with
aqueous H2O2 under organic-solvent-free conditions.[11,12]
Although mixtures of aqueous H2O2 and CH3CO2H or
HCO2H have been known as an effective reagents for the
dihydroxylation of olefins,[13] neutralization of the acid
solvent with a strong alkali is necessary for isolation of the
product. The dihydroxylation of olefins with H2O2 catalyzed
by transition metal complexes has also been reported.[14]
However, the selectivity for 1,2-diols in these catalytic
reactions is moderate, with formation of epoxides as by-
À
products or overoxidation involving C C bond cleavage.
Furthermore, all these methods require chlorohydrocarbons
or other organic solvents. The use of zeolites as catalysts has
allowed dihydroxylation without organic solvents,[15] but the
selectivity for 1,2-diols was lower than 59% as a result of the
formation of epoxides, alcohols, ketones, and/or ethers along
with the desired 1,2-diols. We report herein a procedure for
the synthesis of 1,2-diols by the dihydroxylation of olefins
with aqueous 30% H2O2 catalyzed by resin-supported sul-
fonic acid [Eq. (1)]. The present method satisfies the follow-
ing conditions: 1) organic-solvent- and metal-free system;
2) high yield and selectivity for 1,2-diols; 3) the catalyst is
easily recycled; and 4) simple and safe manipulation.
Green Chemistry
Catalytic Dihydroxylation of Olefins with
Hydrogen Peroxide: An Organic-Solvent- and
Metal-Free System**
Yoko Usui, Kazuhiko Sato,* and Masato Tanaka
1,2-Diols are widely used as intermediates in the perfume and
fragrance industry, for the manufacture of cosmetics, for the
synthesis of commercial products such as photographic
materials and lubricants, and in drugs and foods.[1] Dihydrox-
ylation of olefins is a straightforward method for the synthesis
of 1,2-diols, and various oxidants are now used for this
purpose both in the laboratory and in industry.[2] The syn
dihydroxylation of olefins is most commonly performed in the
presence of metal oxides, including KMnO4[3] and OsO4,[4] and
t-C4H9OOH with a catalytic amount of OsO4.[5] The anti
dihydroxylation can be achieved with CH3CO3H[6] and m-
ClC6H4CO3H[7] in water. However, the atom efficiency of
these oxidants is low, and they form equimolar amounts of the
deoxygenated compounds as waste.[8,9] Hydrogen peroxide is
The dihydroxylation of cyclohexene with 30% H2O2 in
the presence of nafion NR50[16] beads (0.04 equiv,
0.8 mmolgÀ1 of SO3H group) at 708C for 20 h produced
trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol in 98% yield. The catalyst was
recycled very easily. After the first dihydroxylation, the
catalyst was filtrated and washed with water, then reused for
the second reaction. Ten cycles of dihydroxylation of cyclo-
hexene could be catalyzed by the recycled resin-supported
sulfonic acid without a decrease in the catalytic activity. The
yield of each reaction was over 94% (Table 1).
Some examples of the dihydroxylation of a range of
substrates with 30% H2O2 are given in Table 2. The reactivity
of internal olefins is higher than that of terminal olefins
(Table 2, entry 1 vs. entries 2 and 3). The dihydroxylation of
(E)- and (Z)-2-hexene proceeded stereospecifically to give
[*] Dr. K. Sato, Dr. Y. Usui, Prof. Dr. M. Tanaka+
Research Institute for Green Technology
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science
and Technology (AIST)
Table 1: Dihydroxylation of cyclohexene with 30% H2O2 in the presence
Tsukuba Central 5, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8565 (Japan)
Fax: (+81)29-861-4852
of recycled resin-supported sulfonic acid as catalyst.[a]
E-mail: k.sato@aist.go.jp
[+] Present address:
Run
Yield [%][b]
Run
Yield [%][b]
1
2
3
4
5
98
96
96
97
96
6
7
8
9
94
94
96
95
96
Chemical Resources Laboratory
Tokyo Institute of Technology
4259 Nagatsuda, Midori-ku, Yokohama 226-8503 (Japan)
[**] This work was supported in part by the New Energy and Industrial
Technology Development Organization (NEDO)–Research Institute
of Innovative Technology for the Earth (RITE) and the Japan Science
and Technology Corporation (JST)–Core Research for Evolutional
Science and Technology (CREST) program.
10
[a] Reaction
conditions:
cyclohexene
(10 mmol)/30% H2O2/
nafion NR50 (25:50:1), 708C, 20 h. [b] Yield of isolated trans-1,2-cyclo-
hexanediol.
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2003, 42, 5623 –5625
DOI: 10.1002/anie.200352568
ꢀ 2003 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
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Communications
Table 2: Dihydroxylation of olefins with 30% H2O2 in the presence of
resin-supported sulfonic acid catalyst.[a]
using CF3SO3H, 19% when using H2SO4, 11% when using
C6H5SO3H, and 0% when using CH3CO2H. Resin-supported
carboxylic acid (amberlite IRC76[17]) did not work as a
catalyst.
This dihydroxylation of olefins proceeds through two
steps (Scheme 1): 1) epoxidation of the olefin by H2O2 and
2) hydration of the epoxide to form 1,2-diol. The rate-
Entry Olefin
1[c]
Product
Yield [%][b]
40[d]
2[c]
3[c]
4
67
85
83[d]
86
5
6
98
95
83
7[c]
8[e]
Scheme 1. Proposed catalytic cycle for the dihydroxylation reaction.
9
92[d]
100
determining step seems to be the epoxidation of olefins as
epoxides could not be detected in the reaction mixtures.
Indeed, under these reaction conditions, cyclohexene oxide
produced trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol quantitatively within
10 min. The initial epoxidation is probably carried out by
resin-supported peroxysulfonic acid formed in situ.[18,19] Com-
petitive experiments showed the following relative reactivity:
1-hexene/(Z)-2-hexene/(E)-2-hexene/2-methyl-2-pentene =
1:24:46:153. These values are similar to the epoxidation ratio
of these olefins with peroxycarboxylic acid (1:22:20:230).[20]
In summary, we have developed a clean and safe method
for the dihydroxylation of alkenes under organic-solvent- and
metal-free conditions. The resin-supported sulfonic acid
catalyst is easily recycled.
10
11
93
80
12[f]
[a] Unless otherwise stated, the reactions were run with olefin
(10 mmol), 30% H2O2, and nafion NR50 (25:50:1) at 708C for 20 h.
[b] Yield of isolated product. [c] Olefin/30% H2O2/nafion SAC-13
(25:50:1). [d] Determined by GC analysis. Based on olefin charged.
[e] Olefin/30% H2O2/amberlyst 15 (25:50:1). [f] Olefin/30% H2O2/
nafion SAC-13 (8:32:1), 908C.
Experimental Section
Typical procedure: A 50-mL round-bottomed flask equipped with a
magnetic stirring bar and reflux condenser was charged with
nafion NR50 (501 mg) and aqueous H2O2 (30%; 2.23 g, 20 mmol).
The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 10 min, after which
cyclohexene (821 mg, 10 mmol) was added. The triphasic mixture was
heated at 708C with vigorous stirring for 20 h and then cooled to room
temperature. After the nafion NR50 was removed by filtration, MnO2
(ca. 10 mg) was added to the solution. The absence of H2O2 was
examined by testing with starch–iodide paper. After filtration of
MnO2, the water was removed by evaporation to provide trans-1,2-
cyclohexanediol[21] was obtained as a white powder (1.14 g, 98%
yield). M.p. 101–1028C. 1H NMR (500 MHz, D2O): d = 1.38 (br s,
2H), 1.80 (br s, 2H), 2.06 (br s, 1H), 3.50 ppm (br s, 1H); 13C NMR
(125 MHz, D2O): d = 76.0, 33.6, 24.4 ppm. The nafion NR50 used
above was washed with water (5 ” 5 mL), and the same dihydrox-
ylation reaction was carried out under the same conditions to give
trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol (1.12 g, 96% yield).
the corresponding anti- and syn-2,3-hexanediols, respectively
(Table 2, entries 2 and 3). Functionalized olefins were also
easily oxidized to produce the corresponding 1,2-diols with-
out affecting alcohol and carboxylic acid groups present in the
substrate (Table 2, entries 10–12). Nafion SAC-13 (powder,
supported on silica) showed almost the same catalytic activity
as nafion NR50 (Table 2, entries 6 and 7). The ion-exchange
resin, amberlyst 15[17] (polystyrene-supported sulfonic acid)
also proved to be a good catalyst for dihydroxylation,
producing trans-1,2-cyclohexanediol from cyclohexene in
83% yield (Table 2, entry 8). Interestingly, the catalytic
activity of resin-supported sulfonic acids is much higher
than that of homogeneous acid catalysts. For example, the
yields of anti-2,3-hexanediol from the dihydroxylation of (E)-
2-hexene were 85% when using nafion SAC-13, 36% when
Received: August 5, 2003 [Z52568]
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Angewandte
Chemie
[15] For dihydroxylation with H2O2 in the presence of
Keywords: alkenes · dihydroxylation · green chemistry ·
hydrogen peroxide · oxidation
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