Structure modification of unsaturated natural products:The epoxidation of carbon-carbon double bonds in some natural products with hydrogen peroxide catalyzed by iodine

Aim To afford an environmentally benign catalytic epoxidation of carbon-carbon double bonds in organic substrates using hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant and iodine as a catalyst.Method The effects of different factors on the epoxidation of three unsaturated natural products were investigated by orthogonal design.Results The experimental results show that three unsaturated natural products are oxidized to the corresponding epoxides with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of 10%(mol/mol) of iodine at room temperature in high yields.Conclusion Iodine was found to be an efficient catalyst for the epoxidation of carbon-carbon double bonds in some unsaturated natural products with hydrogen peroxide at room temperature.