Mixing and matching chiral cobalt- and manganese-based calix-salen catalysts for the asymmetric hydrolytic ring opening of epoxides

Homochiral oligomeric salen macrocycles possessing aromatic spacers have been prepared as new calix-salen derivatives. The corresponding cobalt and manganese complexes were synthesized and characterized, and their catalytic activities have been studied in the challenging hydrolysis of meso epoxides. While manganese calix-salen complexes were not active in the studied reactions, the dual heterobimetallic system, using an equimolar combination of cobalt and manganese calix-salen derivatives proved to be more enantioselective than the sole cobalt system. Furthermore, as heterogeneous complexes, the catalytic mixture could be easily recovered by simple filtration and successfully reengaged in subsequent catalytic runs. Interestingly, no need for cobalt reactivation was noticed to maintain maximum efficiency of this dual system. The matched Co/Mn dual catalyst was also used to promote the dynamic hydrolytic kinetic resolution of epibromohydrin. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.