Asymmetric Epoxidation of Chromenes Using Manganese(III) Complexes with Novel Chiral Salen-like Schiff Base Ligands

Three novel chiral salen-like schiff base ligands and their Mn(III) complexes containing different amino acid unit have been synthesized and characterized. Asymmetric epoxidation reactions show these complexes are effective catalysts for the chromenes with buffer NaOCl as terminal oxidant and pyridine N -oxide as co-catalyst in the presence of ionic liquid. Good-to -excellent enantioselectivity and acceptable yields can be obtained under optimum reaction conditions. Catalyst 4c gives the highest ee (95%) for 6-chloro-2,2-dimethylchromene among these catalytic performances. Furthermore, compared the enantioselectivity of catalyst 4c with the other two catalysts 4a and 4b , the positive experimental results suggest that the steric effect of the ligands plays an important role in the asymmetric catalysis. Graphical Abstract Asymmetric epoxidation of chromenes with Mn (III) complex containing amino acid moiety