Process for the asymmetric oxidation of organic compounds with peroxides in the presence of a chiral acid catalyst

1. A process for the asymmetric oxidation of an organic compound by electrophilic addition of a peroxide compound, said process comprising reacting the organic compound with at least one peroxide compound R p —OOH in the presence of a chiral catalyst;

wherein the at least one peroxide compound is activated in favor of said reacting by hydrogen bonding of the at least one peroxide compound to said chiral catalyst;

wherein said chiral catalyst is selected from the group consisting of chiral compounds (a) and (b), wherein the chiral compounds (a) are selected from the group consisting of chiral imidodiphosphates, and the chiral compounds (b) are selected from the group consisting of phosphoric acids, sulfonic acids, bisulfonimides, triflyl phosphoramides, and phosphinyl phosphoramides, said chiral compounds (b) comprising a catalytically active site [—(P,S)═O][—NHR E , —OH], wherein R E is an electron-withdrawing group;

wherein the organic compound to be oxidized is selected from the group consisting of x s R X n , R s1 R s2 C═CR s3 R s4 and R s1 R s2 CH—(C═O)R s3 ;

wherein:

X s is selected from the group consisting of S, Se, P and N;

R X is the same or different on X and is selected from the group consisting of (a) —NR Y 2 , (b) —SR Y , (c) —OR Y , (d) —OSiR y 3 , (e) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (f) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (g) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (e)-(g) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms;

n is 2 when X s is S or Se; or n is 3 when X s is P or N;

R p , R Y and R s1 to R s4 are independently selected from the group consisting of (a) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (b) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (c) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (a)-(c) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms; or R′ is hydrogen or a radical of the formula:

wherein aliphatic or aromatic in said formula is selected from the group consisting of (a) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (b) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (c) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (a)-(c) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms;

wherein said imidodiphosphates have the formula (I):

wherein:

X and Y are, independently from each other, the same or different and represent O, S, Se or NR N ;

Z 1 to Z 4 are, independently from each other, the same or different and represent O, S or NR N ;

n stands for 0 or 1;

W is a substituent being capable of forming a covalent or ionic bond with the imidodiphosphate moiety;

R 1 to R 4 are, independently from each other, the same or different and are each selected from the group consisting of aliphatic, heteroaliphatic, aromatic and heteroaromatic groups, each of which groups is optionally further substituted by one or more metal-free heterosubstituents, aliphatic, heteroaliphatic, aromatic or heteroaromatic groups, whereby

R 1 and R 2 form a ring system with P and, if present, Z 1 and Z 2 , and R 3 and R 4 form a ring system with P and, if present, Z 3 and Z 4 , respectively; and

R N is selected from the group consisting of (a) hydrogen, (b) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (c) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (d) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (b)-(d) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms;

and tautomeric and ionic forms of said imidodiphosphates.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the imidodiphosphate of formula (I) is represented by formula (IV):

wherein in said formula (IV), the substituent R is the same or different on each position and is a metal-free heterosubstituent or R N .

3. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the chiral imidodiphosphate of formula (IV) has the following formula (IVa):

wherein the substituents R are different or optionally the same on each position, or its tautomeric or ionic form.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the chiral catalyst used is the chiral imidodiphosphate, and the chiral imidodiphosphate has the formula (II):

5. The process according to claim 4 , wherein the chiral imidodiphosphate of formula (II) has at least one moiety:

that is a five to ten-membered ring structure.

6. The process according to claim 4 , wherein the chiral catalyst used is the chiral imidodiphosphate, and the chiral imidodiphosphate has the formula (III):

7. The process according to claim 6 , wherein, in such formula (III), R 1 to R 4 , respectively are each selected from the group consisting of (a) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (b) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (c) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (a)-(c) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms; and

W is selected from the group consisting of (a) hydrogen, (b) —OH, (c) halogen, (d) a metal, (e) a cationic organic group, (f) R w and (g) a substituted silicon —SiR I R II R III , wherein R w , R I , R II and R III are the same or different and each is selected from the group consisting of (i) hydrogen, (ii) halogen, (iii) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (iv) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (v) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (iii)-(v) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (1) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (2) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (3) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms thereof;

and its tautomeric and ionic forms.

8. The process according to claim 6 , wherein, in such formula (III), (R 1 and R 2 ) and (R 3 and R 4 ), respectively each form a ring structure which is the same or different and is derived from a bridged, optionally dimeric, aromatic structure, or a partially arene-hydrogenated form of such aromatic ring structure, each of said rings systems optionally being substituted by one or more substituents which are the same or different on each position and are each selected from the group consisting of (a) hydrogen, (b) metal-free heterosubstituents, (c) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (d) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (e) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (c)-(e) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms;

and its tautomeric and ionic forms.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein at least one of said ring structures formed by (R 1 and R 2 ) or (R 3 and R 4 ) is chiral, optionally with a C 2 symmetry axis.

10. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the ring structures formed by (R 1 and R 2 ) and (R 3 and R 4 ), respectively, are identical.

11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the organic compound is enantioselectively oxidized with a peroxide compound in the presence of a chiral imidodiphosphate catalyst, said imidodiphosphate having the formula (I).

12. The process according to claim 1 , wherein, in the formula (I), W represents hydrogen.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the organic compound has the formula X S R X n , wherein X S represents S; n represents 2; and R X is selected from the group consisting of (a) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (b) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (c) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (a)-(c) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms.

14. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the peroxide R p —OOH is selected from the group consisting of (a) hydrogen peroxide, (b) aliphatic or aromatic hydroperoxide, (c) aliphatic or aromatic percarboxylic acid and (d) mixtures thereof.

15. A process for the asymmetric oxidation of an organic compound, said process comprising reacting the organic compound with at least one peroxide compound R p —OOH in the presence of a chiral catalyst;

wherein the at least one peroxide compound is activated in favor of said reacting by hydrogen bonding of the at least one peroxide compound to said chiral catalyst;

wherein said organic compound is selected from the group consisting of organic compounds of the formulae X s R X n , R s1 R s2 C═CR s3 R s4 and R s1 R s2 CH—(C═O)R s3 ;

wherein:

X s is selected from the group consisting of S, Se, P and N;

R X is the same or different on X and is selected from the group consisting of (a) —NR Y 2 , (b) —SR Y , (c) —OR Y , (d) —OSiR y 3 , (e) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (f) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (g) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (e)-(g) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms;

n is 2 when X s is S or Se; or n is 3 when X s is P or N;

R p , R Y and R s1 to R s4 are independently selected from the group consisting of (a) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (b) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (c) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (a)-(c) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms; or R p is hydrogen or a radical of the formula:

wherein aliphatic or aromatic in said formula is selected from the group consisting of (a) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (b) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (c) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (a)-(c) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms;

wherein said chiral catalyst is selected from the group consisting of chiral compounds (a) and (b), wherein the chiral compounds (a) are selected from the group consisting of chiral imidodiphosphates, and the chiral compounds (b) are selected from the group consisting of phosphoric acids, sulfonic acids, bisulfonimides, triflyl phosphoramides, and phosphinyl phosphoramides, said chiral compounds (b) comprising a catalytically active site [—(P,S)═O][—NHR E , —OH], wherein R E is an electron-withdrawing group; and

wherein said imidodiphosphates have the formula (I):

wherein:

X and Y are, independently from each other, the same or different and represent O, S, Se or NR N ;

Z 1 to Z 4 are, independently from each other, the same or different and represent O, S or NR N ;

n stands for 0 or 1;

W is a substituent being capable of forming a covalent or ionic bond with the imidodiphosphate moiety;

R 1 to R 4 are, independently from each other, the same or different and are each selected from the group consisting of aliphatic, heteroaliphatic, aromatic and heteroaromatic groups, each of which groups is optionally further substituted by one or more metal-free heterosubstituents, aliphatic, heteroaliphatic, aromatic or heteroaromatic groups, whereby

R 1 and R 2 form a ring system with P and, if present, Z 1 and Z 2 , and R 3 and R 4 form a ring system with P and, if present, Z 3 and Z 4 , respectively; and

R N is selected from the group consisting of (a) hydrogen, (b) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (c) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl and (d) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms, wherein each of (b)-(d) is optionally substituted by one or more groups selected from the group consisting of (i) C 1 to C 20 straight chain, branched chain or cyclic aliphatic hydrocarbons, optionally having one or more unsaturated bonds, (ii) C 3 -C 8 -heterocycloalkyl, and (iii) C 6 to C 20 aromatic hydrocarbon and partially arene-hydrogenated forms;

and tautomeric and ionic forms of said imidodiphosphates.