Metal(II) d-Tartrates Catalyzed Asymmetric Ring Opening of Oxiranes with Various Nucleophiles

Abstract The asymmetric ring opening of meso-2,3-disubstituted oxiranes with thiols, aniline, and trimethylsilyl azide was studied by the use of metal(II) d-tartrates as heterogeneous chiral Lewis acid catalysts. The enantioselectivity varied widely with the combination of oxirane, nucleophile, and metal(II) d-tartrate, and Zn(II) d-tartrate gave the best enantioselectivity in the respective reactions of 1,2-epoxycyclohexane with 1-butanethiol, aniline, and trimethylsilyl azide to afford the corresponding adducts in 85, 58, and 42% ee, respectively. Furthermore, the kinetic resolution of racemic oxiranes with thiols catalyzed by Zn(II) d-tartrate was studied.