Synergistic interplay of a non-heme iron catalyst and amino acid coligands in H2 O2 activation for asymmetric epoxidation of α-alkyl-substituted styrenes.

Abstract

Highly enantioselective epoxidation of α-substituted styrenes with aqueous H2 O2 is described by using a chiral iron complex as the catalyst and N-protected amino acids (AAs) as coligands. The amino acids synergistically cooperate with the iron center in promoting an efficient activation of H2 O2 to catalyze epoxidation of this challenging class of substrates with good yields and stereoselectivities (up to 97%ee) in short reaction times.