An environmentally benign catalytic system for alkene epoxidation with hydrogen peroxide electrogenerated in situ

Hydrogen peroxide was electrogenerated in-situ in aqueous bicarbonate solutions for the epoxidation of alkenes using Mn2+ as the catalyst. Water-soluble alkenes were epoxidized with excellent yields and high current efficiencies. The catalytic system could be adapted for the epoxidation of lipophilic alkenes in tert-butanol–water mixture. The electrochemical method allows the release of hydrogen peroxide to the reaction medium in a controlled manner and minimizes the problem of hydrogen peroxide wastage through catalytic decomposition by Mn2+.