Remarkable increase in the rate of the catalytic epoxidation of electron deficient styrenes through the addition of Sc(OTf)3 to the MnTMTACN catalyst.

Abstract

The effect of Lewis acids on the catalytic activity of [Mn2(μ-O)3(TMTACN)2](PF6)2 in the epoxidation of styrenes using hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant has shown that the addition of Sc(OTf)3 at low catalytic loading results in a very significant increase in the efficiency of the catalyst and a reduction of the reaction time to only 3 minutes in most cases.