The Juliá-Colonna Reaction: A Phase-Transfer Catalyzed Enantioselective Olefin Epoxidation

Abstract

Juliá and Colonna were one of the firsts chemists reporting examples of enantioselective organocatalyzed reactions, namely the Phase-Transfer Catalysis (PTC) olefin epoxidation. Although some reviews exist on the Juliá-Colonna reaction, none is devoted specifically to it. After an introduction reporting the main publications gathered in three tables, this review is organized into a) olefin epoxidation; b) other enantioselective catalysts; c) Juliá-Colonna papers; d, e) papers citing the "Juliá-Colonna" epoxidation with special stress on those by Stanley M. Roberts. This review summarizes the papers by these authors and reports the most relevant improvements.