Experimental and theoretical study on the reactivity of the R-CN/H2O2 system in the epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins

A study on the reactivity of peroxycarboximidic acids in situ generated from acetonitrile, trichloroacetonitrile, benzonitrile, m-chlorobenzonitrile, 3-cyanopyridine, 1-naphthonitrile and 9-anthracenenitrile was performed by semiempirical AM1 method and experimentally in the epoxidation of cyclohexene and R-(+)-limonene. Experimental results showed that the reactivity of Cl3CCN/H2O2 was quite similar to MCPBA in the epoxidation of unfunctionalized olefins when a biphasic mixture CH2Cl2/H2O was employed as solvent.