IRON-CATALYZED OLEFIN OXIDATION

Abstract

BY EMULATING NATURAL OXIdations by certain enzymes that have iron at their active sites, two research groups have made significant progress toward environmentally friendly reactions that oxidize organic compounds using relatively nontoxic metal catalyst ligands used with the iron are inexpensive and simple to make, unlike the complex porphyrin ligands called hemes that are found in some enzymes. And the new reactions use hydrogen peroxide as the oxidizing agent, which results in harmless water as the byproduct. The development of environmentally benign catalytic oxidations, in particular using hydrogen peroxide, is a major scientific challenge of great importance for the chemical industry, comments organic chemistry professor Ben L. Feringa of the University of Groningen, in the Netherlands. Nonheme iron systems are among the most difficult, though attractive, targets for new catalysts. In one of the new reports, organic and inorganic chemistry professor Eric N. Jacobsen of Harvard Univ...