1.
The internal temperature was monitored using a J-Kem Gemini digital thermometer with a Teflon-coated T-Type thermocouple probe (12-inch length, 1/8 inch outer diameter, temperature range -200 to +250 °C).
2.
(+)-B-Methoxydiisopinocampheylborane was purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and used as received. The submitters stored and transferred this material in the glove box. The checker stored it in the freezer and weighed and transferred (rapidly) in open air. Diethyl ether (anhydrous, ACS reagent) and allylmagnesium bromide (1.0 M in diethyl ether, stored in refrigerator) were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich and used as received.
3.
The specified amounts of (+)-(Ipc)2BOMe (1.25 equiv) and allylmagnesium bromide (1.20 equiv) are used in order to generate a sufficient amount of allylborane 1 to completely consume 1.0 equiv of aldehyde 2 in the allylboration step. Unreacted aldehyde (8-10%) remains at the end of the allylboration reaction when 1.0 equiv of both (+)-(Ipc)2BOMe and allylmagnesium bromide are used. A slight excess of (+)-(Ipc)2BOMe is used over allylmagnesium bromide in order to ensure complete consumption of the latter before addition of the aldehyde; the submitters observed that the allylboration diastereoselectivity decreased by 1-2% if a slight excess of (+)-(Ipc)2BOMe is not used.
4.
The stirring of the thick mixture should be vigorous but balanced. Solids that stick on the walls above the mixture may contain entrapped reagent, perhaps in the form of the ate complex indicated in equation 1,3 and cannot be washed back into the reaction mixture. In such cases, unreacted aldehyde is often observed after conclusion of the allylboration reaction.
5.
(-)-B-allyldiisopinocampheylborane ((-)-(Ipc)2B(allyl) or (dIpc)2B(allyl)), can be prepared using the same procedure starting from (-)-B-methoxydiisopinocampheylborane ((-)-(Ipc)2BOMe). The (Ipc)2B(allyl) reagents are sensitive to air and moisture.
6.
(R)-3-(t-Butyldiphenylsilyloxy)-2-methylpropanal 2 was prepared (10.0 - 12.0 g scale) according to the procedure of Marshall et al.4 and obtained in 75-80% yield as a white solid following column chromatography with 3% EtOAc/hexanes with [α]D 20 -26.4 (CHCl3, c = 1.8). Aldehyde 2 was stored at -20 °C for up to 2 weeks prior to use without racemization (as determined by measuring its optical rotation and ee determination of the allylation product 3).
7.
An oven-dried, 100-mL, single-necked, round-bottomed flask was charged with (R)-3-(t-butyldiphenylsilyloxy)-2-methylpropanal 2 (10.9 g), then 25 mL of diethyl ether was added, and the mixture was swirled to completely dissolve the aldehyde. The resulting solution was transferred to the reaction mixture via a 40 mL disposable syringe with a 15 cm needle (18 gauge) over 20 min. Additional diethyl ether (2 × 5 mL) was used to rinse the flask and then was added to the reaction mixture over 1 min. For the addition of the aldehyde solution to the cold reaction mixture, the tip of the syringe needle should be kept >5 cm above the surface and added at a steady rate to prevent crystallization of the aldehyde in the syringe. The submitters used a syringe pump for this addition.
8.
The progress of the reaction was monitored by 1H NMR spectroscopy monitoring the aldehyde proton at δ 9.8. (Typical procedure for 1H NMR analysis: an aliquot of the reaction mixture was quickly transferred via a syringe to a small vial containing methanol (0.5 mL) at rt. The solvent was evaporated and the residue was dissolved in CDCl3.)
9.
30% H2O2 was purchased from Fisher Chemical Company, stored at 5 °C and used as received.
10.
The oxidative hydrolysis was not complete in 16 h at ambient temperature or under reflux without addition of the saturated NaHCO3 solution. The pH of the hydrolysis reaction mixture after bicarbonate addition was 11.
11.
The progress of the oxidative hydrolysis was monitored by 1H NMR pdf spectroscopy using CDCl3 as solvent (An aliquot of the organic layer was evaporated to dryness and the residue dissolved in CDCl3.) Completion of the oxidative hydrolysis was indicated by disappearance of the mutiplet resonances of the internal olefin hydrogen (δ 5.78 - 5.68) and terminal olefin hydrogens (δ 5.05 - 4.95) in the intermediate borinate ester (e.g., ROBIpc2). In comparison, the chemical shift range of the multiplet of the corresponding olefinic hydrogens in the major product 3 are from δ 5.92 - 5.81 and 5.16 - 5.09. The hydrolysis was complete within 1.5 h in the hands of the submitters but typically required 8-10 h for the checkers. Agitation efficiency of the 3-phase mixture (aqueous, organic, solids) may affect the reaction rate.
12.
Isopinocampheyl hydroperoxide 4 is produced in the reaction. This compound migrates with the syn product 3 on the TLC plate (EMD, silica gel, grade 60, F254) in this exemplified allylboration reaction, so the iron (II) sulfate reduction step is included to ensure that hydroperoxide 4 is completely consumed prior to product isolation. A reference sample of 4 was prepared by stirring a solution of Ipc2BOMe (1.0 g) in THF under air for 1 h. This solution was cooled to 0 °C and a premixed solution of 3 N NaOH (2.3 mL) and 30% H2O2 (0.9 mL) was added followed by sat. NaHCO3 (3.0 mL) solution. The resulting mixture was vigorously stirred for 1.5 h. The organic phase was separated and hydroperoxide 4 was separated from isopinocampheol (1 : 4 mixture, respectively) by column chromatography using 1:10 Et2O-hexanes as eluent (Rf=0.5, 1:5 Et2O-hexanes, staining with PMA).
13.
The reaction diastereoselectivity was determined as follows. A small sample of the crude reaction product (80 mg) was purified (collecting all fractions containing product with Rf = 0.4 to 0.5) by flash column chromatography (8 g silica gel) using ether/hexanes = 1/8 as the eluent to provide a mixture of three products. This mixture was analyzed by the submitters using normal phase HPLC (5% EtOAc in hexanes, 1.0 mL/min, 4.6 × 250 mm Varian column, UV detection at 254 nm; tR(3) = 16.2 min; tR(5) = 13.9 min; tR(6) = 13.0 min). The checkers used a reverse phase assay to analyze diastereomeric ratios using an Agilent 1100 HPLC system; Ascentis Express C-18 fused-core column, 4.6 × 100 mm, 2.7 um particle size; 1.8 mL/min flow; temperature 40 °C; detection at 210 nm; gradient elution from 50/50 MeCN/water containing 0.1% H3PO4 to 95% MeCN/5% aq. over 14 min; tR (3) 9.6 min, tR (5) 9.8 min, tR (6) 11.6 min). The crude reaction product was determined to contain (2R,3R)-1-(t-butyldiphenylsilyloxy-2-methylhex-5-en-3-ol (3) (90%), (2R,3S)-1-(t-butyldiphenylsilyloxy)-2-methylhex-5-en-3-ol (5) (7%), and (2R, 3R)-1-(t-butyldiphenylsilyloxy)-2-methyl-5-methyleneoct-7-en-3-ol (6) (3%). The stereochemistry of the hydroxyl group of 6 is assumed, by analogy to the stereochemistry of the major product of the reaction (3). A use test (by direct reaction with aldehyde 2) indicated that the solutions of allylmagnesium bromide in diethyl ether contain ca. 3% of 2-((bromomagnesium)methyl)-1,4-pentadiene.

14.
The crude product was purified by three flash column chromatography steps owing to the difficulty of separating the syn diastereomer 3 from the anti diastereomer 5 and the byproduct 6. The first chromatography was performed using 300 g of silica gel (Fisher, 230-400 mesh, 60 Å) in a 5 cm diameter column using 10:1 hexanes-diethyl ether as the eluent (18-mL fractions). All fractions were analyzed by TLC (1:10 Et2O-hexanes, 3 developments, staining with KMnO4 solution), as depicted
graphically below. Early fractions contained 0.7 g of a mixture of
5 and predominantly by-product
6. Late eluting fractions without detectable
anti diastereomer
5 were pooled, giving 3.7 g of
syn diastereomer
3. The intermediate fractions, containing 8.1 g of a mixture of
3,
5 and
6 were pooled and subjected to a second chromatography as described above (250 g silica gel, 5 cm diameter column). Early eluting fractions containing predominantly
5,
6 and a small amount of
3 were discarded. Late eluting fractions, without detectable
anti diastereomer
5 according to TLC analysis, were combined to give an additional 3.4 g of
syn diastereomer
3. The intermediate, mixed fractions, consisting of 4.5 g of a mixture of
3,
5 and
6 were subjected to a third column chromatography (200 g of silica gel in a 5 cm diameter column). This provided an additional 2.3 g of essentially pure
syn diastereomer
3, along with 1.5 g (12% yield) of mixed fractions that consisted of mixture
3 (ca. 80%),
4 (ca. 20%) and
6 (ca. 1 %). The latter fraction could be subjected to additional purification if desired. The three main fractions of
syn diastereomer
3 were combined, giving 9.4 g (77% yield) which contained 1.3% of
anti diastereomer
5 and 0.2% of by-product
6 according to HPLC analysis as described in note 13.
15.
The submitters obtained pure samples of 3, 5 and 6 by preparative HPLC for spectroscopic analysis (5% EtOAc in hexanes, 18.0 mL/min, 21.4 × 250 mm Varian Dynamax column, Microsorb 60-8; tR(3) = 9.8 min; tR(5) = 9.1 min; tR(6) = 8.3 min). The enantiomers of both 3 and 5 have been synthesized and characterized previously.5 The checker prepared a mixture of the (2S, 3S) and (2S, 3R) diastereomers by the same protocol starting with (S)-3-(t-butyldiphenylsilyloxy)-2-methylpropanal and (+)-B-methoxydiisopinocampheylborane, which produced a 78:22 mixture of (2S, 3R):(2S, 3S) diastereomers. The syn product 3 exhibits the following physical and spectroscopic properties: colorless oil; [α]D 21 = +3.7 (c = 1.9, CHCl3); 1H NMR pdf (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 0.97 (d, J = 7.1 Hz, 3 H), 1.08 (s, 9 H), 1.77-1.82 (m, 1 H), 2.20-2.33 (m, 2 H), 2.73 (d, J = 3.4 Hz, 1 H), 3.70 and 3.77 (ABX, J = 10.1, 4.3 Hz, 2 H), 3.92-3.97 (m, 1 H), 5.09-5.16 (m, 2 H), 5.81-5.92 (m, 1 H), 7.30-7.48 (m, 6 H), 7.67-7.71 (m, 4 H); 13C NMR pdf (125 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 10.5, 19.4, 27.1, 39.1, 39.3, 68.7, 73.5, 117.3, 128.0, 130.00, 130.04, 133.2, 133.4, 135.79, 135.81, 135.9; IR (KBr) 3468, 2955, 2858, 1606, 1515, 1471, 1427, 1112, 701 cm−1; LC-MS calcd for [M+Na]+ (C23H32NaO2Si) 391.6, found, 391.7 m/z. Purity by reverse phase HPLC was >98% (see note 13 for method), tR (3) 9.6 min (98.3%); tR (5) 9.8 min (1.3%); tR (6) 11.6 min (0.2%); tR 9.1 min (unknown, 0.2%). A reverse phase chiral HPLC assay was developed to separate the (2S, 3S) and (2R, 3R) enantiomers: OJ-RH (150 × 4.6mm, 5um) isocratic 60% MeCN (pH 3.5, 2mM ammonium formate), 40% aqueous (pH 3.5, 2mM ammonium formate), 0.75mL/min, ambient temp, 215 nm, 20 min method time; tR(3) (2R, 3R) 11.5 min; tR (2S, 3S) 13.2 min; tR (5) (2R, 3S) and (2S, 3R) co-elute 12.5 min. The enantiomeric purity of 3 was 99.0% indicating that aldehyde 2 did not racemize during its preparation and application in the exemplified procedure. An analytical sample of 3 was prepared by dissolving ~100 mg of the product from the pooled chromatographies in 5 mL of diethyl ether, filtering through a 0.45 micron PTFE syringe filter, and concentrating to dryness under vacuum for 16 h. Anal. calcd. for C23H32O2Si: C, 74.95; H, 8.75; found: C, 74.85; H, 8.78. The anti product 5 exhibits the following physical and spectroscopic properties: colorless oil; [α]D 21 = -2.6 (c = 0.7, CHCl3); 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 0.85 (d, J = 6.8 Hz, 3 H), 1.06 (s, 9 H), 1.80-1.84 (m, 1 H), 2.17-2.23 (m, 1 H), 2.34-2.39 (m, 1 H), 3.49 (d, J = 3.2 Hz, 1 H), 3.65 and 3.77 (ABX, J = 10.0, 4.4 Hz, 2 H), 3.65-3.73 (m, 1 H), 5.10-5.15 (m, 2 H), 5.88-5.98 (m, 1 H), 7.38-7.45 (m, 6 H), 7.67-7.69 (m, 4 H); 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 13.4, 19.1, 26.8, 39.4, 39.5, 68.6, 75.1, 117.2, 127.8, 129.8, 132.9, 135.3, 135.6, 135.7; IR (KBr) 3496, 2959, 2930, 2858, 1589, 1472, 1427, 1390, 1112, 701 cm−1; LC-MS calcd for [M+Na]+ (C23H32NaO2Si) 391.6, found, 391.7 m/z. The side product 6 exhibits the following physical and spectroscopic properties: colorless oil; 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 0.93 (d, J = 6.8 Hz, 3 H), 1.07 (s, 9 H), 1.76-1.80 (m, 1 H), 2.20-2.28 (m, 2 H), 2.49 (d, J = 3.6 Hz, 1 H), 2.82 (d, J = 6.8 Hz, 2 H), 3.68 and 3.73 (ABX, J = 10.4, 4.8 Hz, 2 H), 4.04-4.07 (m, 1 H), 4.90 (d, J = 0.8 Hz, 2 H), 5.05-5.10 (m, 2 H), 5.78-5.88 (m, 1 H), 7.38-7.46 (m, 6 H), 7.66-7.70 (m, 4 H); 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 10.4, 19.2, 26.9, 39.3, 40.6, 41.1, 68.0, 70.8, 112.9, 116.5, 127.7, 129.7, 129.8, 133.1, 133.3, 135.6, 135.7, 136.1, 145.3; IR (KBr) 3400, 2928, 2859, 1607, 1515, 1470, 1463, 1455, 1112, 822, 702, 505 cm−1; LC-MS calcd for [M+Na]+ (C26H36NaO2Si) 431.6, found, 431.6 m/z. Isopinocampheyl hydroperoxide 4 exhibits the following physical and spectroscopic properties: colorless oil; [α]D 21 = + 33.2 (c = 0.7, CHCl3); 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 0.92 (s, 3 H), 1.01 (d, J = 9.6 Hz, 1 H), 1.17 (d, J = 7.2 Hz, 3 H), 1.22 (s, 3 H), 1.79-1.86 (m, 2 H), 1.90-1.95 (m, 1 H), 2.00-2.03 (m, 1 H), 2.30-2.42 (m, 2 H), 4.27 (ddd, J = 3.6, 4.4 and 8.8 Hz, 1 H), 7.73 (s, 1 H); 13C NMR (100 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 1.41, 23.61, 27.30, 32.48, 33.56, 38.40, 40.87, 42.14, 47.24, 84.99; IR (KBr) 3391, 2908, 1453, 1367, 1158, 1035 cm−1; LC-MS calcd for [M-H2O]+ (C10H18O2) 152.1, found, 152 m/z. This compound is readily reduced by Fe2SO4 to give isopinocampheol.