Asymmetric ring opening of terminal epoxides via kinetic resolution catalyzed by chiral (salen)Co mixture

The highly enantioselective hydrolytic kinetic resolution (HKR) of racemic terminal epoxides by bimetallic chiral (salen)Co and (salen)Co(III)-OAc mixture provides a simple and effective method for the synthesis of enantiomerically enriched terminal epoxides (ee > 99%) and diols. At the equimolar amounts of bimetallic chiral (salen)Co and (salen)Co(II)-OAc, the catalytic activity increases more than two times in comparison with (salen)Co(III)-OAc used alone. The mixed catalytic system can be recycled and reused. No significant loss of catalytic activity was observed after three runs.