Recent Progress in the Heterogenization of Complexes for Single-Site Epoxidation Catalysis

Epoxides are of central importance in organic synthesis since they provide access to a series of different 1,2-difunctionalized intermediates starting from cheap olefins. Olefin epoxidation is catalyzed by a whole bunch of transition metal elements in high oxidation states, the most important are molybdenum, tungsten, rhenium and manganese. Organic peroxides, hydrogen peroxide bleach and even dioxygen have been used as the source of the oxygen atom that is transferred to the olefin. The present microreview summarizes the recent developments in terms of catalyst heterogenization for olefin epoxidation. Such strategies are requested for green synthesis protocols and are of special interest for expensive catalysts derived, e. g. from rhenium or complex chiral ligands.