A Biomimetic Iron Catalyst for the Epoxidation of Olefins with Molecular Oxygen at Room Temperature

Abstract

It's no sacrifice: A bio-inspired iron system, in which a β-keto ester serves as a sacrificial cosubstrate, readily epoxidizes olefins under ambient conditions with air. Aromatic olefins are oxidized in high yields with excellent chemoselectivity. Mechanistic investigations point out substantial differences to well-known radical-based autoxidations. Detailed facts of importance to specialist readers are published as ”Supporting Information”. Such documents are peer-reviewed, but not copy-edited or typeset. They are made available as submitted by the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.