Enantioselective epoxidation reactions of some chosen reactive alkenes by a chiral Mn(III) salen catalyst were performed in H₂O employing H₂O₂ as oxidant and diethyltetradecylamine N-oxide (AOE-14) as surfactant. This procedure represents an environmentally benign protocol which leads to e.e. values ranging from good to excellent (up to 95%).

We have successfully prepared an unsymmetrical analogue of a Katsuki-type salen ligand having a single hydroxyalkyl group at its 6-position, and also its Mn(III) complex; attachment of the complex to a polymer gives a highly enantioselective and recoverable catalyst for epoxidation of 1,2-dihydronaphthalene.

Redox-inactive metal ions can modulate the reactivity of redox-active metal ions in a variety of biological and chemical oxidations. Many synthetic models have been developed to help address the elusive roles of these redox-inactive metal ions. Using a non-heme manganese(II) complex as the model, the influence of redox-inactive metal ions as a Lewis acid on its catalytic efficiency in oxygen at...

The cytochromes P450 are versatile enzymes involved in various catalytic oxidation reactions, such as hydroxylation, epoxidation and dehydrogenation. In this work, we present combined experimental and theoretical studies on the change of regioselectivity in cyclohexadiene oxidation (i.e., epoxidation vs dehydrogenation) by oxoiron(IV) porphyrin complexes bearing different porphyrin ligands. Our...

The mechanism and origin of asymmetric induction in the Mn(III)(salen)-catalyzed epoxidation by peracetic acid have been elucidated by the density functional [Becke three-parameter hybrid functional combined with Lee-Yang-Parr correlation functional (B3LYP)] method in two different regimes: with and without an axial ligand. The acylperoxo complexes of Mn(II,III,IV) in cisON cisNO and trans geom...

A new efficient heterogeneous catalyst was introduced for the epoxidation of styrene. The catalyst was obtained from functionalization of cellulose with N-(2-aminoethyl)acetamide, and then deposition of nanoparticles and Pd(0) nanoparticles on the modified cellulose. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles were deposited via chemical oxidation in basic media and Pd(0) nanoparticles we...

Ultrathin copper oxide (CuO) nanorods with diameters of ∼3.6 nm were obtained in one step using oleylamine (OAm) as both the solvent and the surface controller. The oriented attachment is responsible for the formation of the ultrathin CuO nanorods. Furthermore, this ultrathin nanostructure catalyst exhibited excellent activity and high styrene oxide yields in styrene epoxidation.

Porous titanosilicate beads with a diameter of 0.5-1.5 mm (TiSil-HPB-60) were synthesized from a preformed titanosilicate solution with a porous anion-exchange resin as template. The bead format of this material enables its straightforward separation from the reaction mixture in its application as a liquid-phase heterogeneous catalyst. The material displays hierarchical porosity (micro/mesopore...

A remarkable aspect of enzyme evolution is the portability of catalytic mechanisms for fundamentally different chemical reactions. For example, aspartyl proteases, which contain two active site carboxylic acid groups, catalyze the hydrolysis of amide bonds, while glycosyltransferases (and glycosyl hydrolases), which often also contain two active site carboxylates, have evolved to form (or break...