Sharpless Asymmetrical Epoxidation:An Overview

Sharpless enantioselective epoxidation of achiral primary allyl alcohols is one of the best reaction discovered during the last about three decades. The reaction was typically named after discovery of this by Karl Barry Sharpless. For this discovery Sharpless received the Nobel Prize for medicinal chemistry in the year 2001. This reaction is stearoselective, i.e. it produces only enantionmers as final product. This reaction converts primary and secondary allylic alcohols into the 2, 3 epoxy alcohols. The final enantionmers which is formed will be a stereoselective depending upon the catalyst used during the same reaction. This reactions turns to be industry beneficial due to its applicability and high yield of products in the reaction.