Metalloporphyrin-promoted epoxidation

It was postulated that one possible intermediate for metalloporphyrin-promoted epoxidation is intermediate 41 (Scheme 3.7) [126], If it were possible to trap intermediate 41 with external nucleophiles such as water, a new type of catalytic oxidation of alkenes could be performed. 

It was postulated that one of the possible intermediates for metalloporphyrin-promoted epoxidation is the intermediate 5 (Scheme 7.2) [59]. 

In 1994, Mansuy and coworkers found that a simple ammonium salt, like ammonium acetate alone, is a very efficient cocatalyst for the metalloporphyrin-catalyzed epoxidation of simple alkenes by hydrogen peroxide ". Bases like sodium carbonate, sodium acetate or tetrabutylammonium hydroxide turned out to promote the porphyrin-catalyzed epoxidation without any other additive. Adducts of hydrogen peroxide (with Na2C03, urea, MesNO, PhsPO), which turned out to be particularly useful for reactions in which the concentration of H2O2 in solution needs to be controlled at a fixed level, have been employed by Johnstone and coworkers. 

The group of Masui first attempted the direct epoxidation of olefins by using oxygen and NHPI with metalloporphyrins, but they obtained poor results [15]. Ishii and coworkers proposed two different methods. In the first protocol [16,17], the epoxidizing agent is obtained in situ by the aerobic oxidation of a suitable alcoholic (benzhydrol) compound in the presence of catalytic amounts of NHPI. The resulting oxidant, which is not able to promote the epoxidation by itself, is then activated in the presence of an olefin by catalytic amounts of hexafluoroacetone (HFA) (Scheme 6.1). 

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