Olefin and Acetylene Oxidation

No critical experimental advances have been made in the past decade toward a fuller understanding of the mechanisms of P450-cataIyzed epoxidation reactions, although new insights into the process are emerging from computational studies. The finding that P450-catalyzed olefin epoxidations invariably proceed with retention of 

The second type of evidence that strongly argues for the availability of a nonconcerted epoxidation pathway is provided by the finding that carbonyl products are directly formed during the oxidation of 

The discussion of epoxidation has been framed in terms of a ferryl catalytic species. It has been proposed that the ferric hydroperoxo intermediate may contribute to olefin epoxidation, but as discussed in Section 2, the support for this postulate is contradictory. Although it appears that the ferric hydroperoxo intermediate can oxidize double bonds at a low rate, the data strongly suggests that the ferric hydroperoxide 

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