Highly Enantioselective Epoxidation of α,β-Unsaturated Ketones Using Amide-Based Cinchona Alkaloids as Hybrid Phase-Transfer Catalysts

Abstract

A series of 20 one chiral epoxides were obtained with excellent yields (up to 99%) and enantioselectivities (up to >99% ee) using hybrid amide-based Cinchona alkaloids. Our method is characterized by low catalyst loading (0.5 mol %) and short reaction times. Moreover, the epoxidation process can be carried out in 10 cycles, without further catalyst addition to the reaction mixture. This methodology significantly enhance the scale of the process using very low catalyst loading.