Highly Enantioselective Epoxidation of α,β-Unsaturated Esters by Chiral Dioxirane

Abstract
This paper describes a highly enantioselective epoxidation of α,β-unsaturated esters using the fructose-derived ketone 2 as catalyst and Oxone as oxidant. High ee's have been obtained for a number of trans and trisubstituted substrates (82−98% ee). The results described show that it is feasible for dioxiranes to effectively epoxidize electron-deficient olefins with high ee's.