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Epoxidized vegetable oils (EVOs) are versatile building blocks for lubricants, plasticizers, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) stabilizers, and surface coating formulations. In this paper, a catalytic protocol for the efficient epoxidation of vegetable oils is presented that is based on a combination of a manganese catalyst, H 2 O 2 as an oxidant, and acetic acid as an additive. This protocol relies on the use of a homogeneous catalyst based on the non-noble metal manganese in combination with a racemic mixture of the N,N′-bis(2-picolyl)-2,2′-bispyrrolidine ligand (rac-BPBP). The optimized reaction conditions entail only 0.03 mol% of the manganese catalyst with respect to the number of double bonds (ca. 0.1 wt% with respect to the oil) and ambient temperature. This epoxidation protocol is highly efficient, since it allows most of the investigated vegetable oils, including cheap waste cooking oil, to be fully epoxidized to EVOs in more than 90% yield with excellent epoxide selectivities (>90%) within 2 h of reaction time. In addition, the protocol takes place in a biphasic reaction medium constituted by the vegetable oil itself and an aqueous acetic acid phase, from which the epoxidized product can be easily separated via simple extraction. In terms of efficiency and reaction conditions, the current epoxidation protocol outperforms previously reported catalytic protocols for plant oil epoxidation, representing a promising alternative method for EVO production.

Trioxo‐rhenium complexes are well known catalysts for the deoxydehydration (DODH) of vicinal diols (glycols). In this work, we report on the DODH of diols and biomass‐derived polyols using CpttReO3 as a new catalyst (Cptt=1,3‐di‐tert‐butylcyclopentadienyl). The DODH reaction was optimized using 2 mol % of CpttReO3 and 3‐octanol as both reductant and solvent. The CpttReO3 catalyst exhibits an excellent activity for biomass‐derived polyols. Specifically, glycerol is almost quantitatively converted to allyl alcohol and mucic acid gives 75 % of muconates at 91 % conversion. In addition, the loading of CpttReO3 can be reduced to 0.1 mol % to achieve a turn‐over number as high as 900 per Re when using glycerol as substrate. Examination of DODH reaction profiles by NMR spectroscopy indicates that catalysis is related to Cp‐ligand release, which raises questions on the nature of the actual catalyst.

Molecular flasks are compounds that are able to mediate or catalyze chemical transformations inside their cavities. The development of such compounds is often inspired by nature. Enzymes, nature’s catalysts, are able to convert a certain substrate with very high turnover number and selectivity. In addition to their very high chemo-, regio-, and stereoselectivity, enzymes are also able to distinguish their substrates on the basis of size, resulting in size selectivity. To date, many synthetic materials such as metal–organic frameworks are used to accomplish size-selective transformations. However, also the number of molecular flasks known to mediate or catalyze size-selective transformations is increasing. In this perspective an overview on classic and the most recent examples of size-selective molecular flasks is given. In addition, an outlook on promising developments in cavity chemistry that may lead to the development of additional size-selective molecular flasks is given.

A system of three coupled catalytic cycles enabling the one-pot transformation of epoxides to amines via Meinwald rearrangement, imine condensation, and imine reduction is described. This assisted tandem catalysis is catalyzed by B(C6F5)3 resulting in the first tandem Meinwald rearrangement-reductive amination protocol. The reaction proceeds in nondried solvents and yields β-functionalized amines. In particular, β-diarylamines are obtained in high yields.

Iron complexes derived from a bis-isoindoline-bis-pyridine ligand platform based on the BPBP ligand (BPBP = N,N′-bis(2-picolyl)-2,2′-bis-pyrrolidine) have been synthesized and applied in selective aliphatic C–H oxidation with hydrogen peroxide under mild conditions. The introduction of benzene moieties on the bis-pyrrolidine backbone leads to an increased preference of tertiary over secondary C–H bond oxidation (3°/2° ratio up to 33). On the other hand, substituting the meta-position of the pyridines with bulky silyl groups affords enhanced secondary C–H oxidation selectivity and generally leads to higher product yields and mass balances.

Mononuclear iron(II) complexes with facially coordinating N,N,O-ligands were synthesized as accurate structural mimics of the 2-His-1-carboxylate facial triad found in mononuclear non-heme iron enzymes. Mimicking of the facial triad is achieved by designing sterically demanding ligands providing two histidine-like benzimidazole moieties and a coordinating carboxylate or ester moiety. The new methyl-substituted analogue of the bis(benzimidazolyl)propionate ligand, BMBMeIP and its ester analogue, BMBMeIPnPr are designed to prevent the formation of previously reported coordinatively saturated FeL2 type complexes. The crystal structure of [Fe(BMBMeIPnPr)(OTf)2] shows a facial N,N,O-coordination that is very similar to the structure of the enzyme active sites. Both [Fe(BMBMeIPnPr)(OTf)2] and [Fe(BMBMeIP)(OTf)(MeCN)n] catalyze the epoxidation of olefins using H2O2, reaching turnover numbers up to 5.8 per iron. These results represent the first examples of iron complexes bearing a single facial and rigid N,N,O-coordinating ligand and three readily available coordination sites showing catalytic activity in oxidation reactions.

The first shape-persistent macrocycle 1 offering a Brønsted pair functionalized interior is described. Via postcyclization transformation, this heterosequenced compound can be obtained from its corresponding ester 2. The macrocycles differ dramatically in their characteristics such as solubility and appearance. Theoretical investigations suggest that those contrasts might originate from conformational changes due to the formation of a strong O-H-N hydrogen bond in 1.