Patent ID: 8471046

Claim:
A process for the enantioselective epoxidation of α,β-unsaturated ketones, said process comprising reacting a compound of the formula I, in which R 1 is a branched or unbranched, saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 30 carbon atoms, which is substituted or unsubstituted and may have one or more heteroatoms in the chain, R 2 is hydrogen, a branched or unbranched, saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 30 carbon atoms, which is substituted or unsubstituted and may have one or more heteroatoms in the chain, or an aryl group or heteroaryl group, which is substituted or unsubstituted, R 3 is hydrogen, a branched or unbranched, saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon radical having 1 to 30 carbon atoms, which is substituted or unsubstituted and may have one or more heteroatoms in the chain, or an aryl group or heteroaryl group, which is substituted or unsubstituted, R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 may be identical or different, and the radical R 1 may, with the radicals R 2 and R 3 , form a ring, which may have 5 to 20 members, be saturated or unsaturated, alicyclic or heteroalicyclic, and is substituted or unsubstituted, with an oxidizing agent to form a 3-epoxy ketone of the formula II, in which R 1 , R 2 , R 3 are as defined above, wherein said reacting is carried out in the presence of a chiral catalyst, said chiral catalyst is selected from the group consisting of amines and their acid addition salts, and said amines have the formula III: NH 2 R 4 in which R 4 is an optionally substituted hydrocarbon group having 1 to 30 carbon atoms, or an optionally substituted, heteroatom-containing hydrocarbon group, and their acid addition salts.