Abstract

A remarkable example of the progress in metal-free oxidation is the development of oxidation with dioxiranes. The reactivity of these peroxides seems to be due to the tendency for easy electrophilic O-atom transfer to nucleophilic substrates. This has been applied in order to achieve high regio- and stereoselective epoxidation and oxyfunctionalizations of target molecules. This review addresses a new approach consisting of the application of homogeneous and heterogeneous dioxiranes isolated and generate in situ.

This method has shown promise to contribute to resolving a well-recognized general problem in the organic synthesis to achieve efficient synthetic methods that take into account the fundamental principles of green chemistry.

Keywords: Dioxirane, epoxidation, heterogeneous catalysis, homogeneous catalysis, metal free oxidation, target molecules.