Design of a bio-inspired imidazole-based iron catalyst for epoxidation of olefins: Mechanistic insights

A novel defined iron catalyst for the epoxidation of aromatic and aliphatic olefins with hydrogen peroxide as the terminal oxidant is described. Our catalyst approach is based on bio-inspired both alkyl- and aryl-substituted imidazoles in combination with cheap and abundant iron trichloride hexahydrate. Heterocycles similar to imidazole can be used as ligands in this epoxidation system, too. The novel system is stable towards air and water. It is shown that the mechanism depends strongly on the used ligands and substrates. In the presence of radical scavengers no carbon-centered radical could be detected.