Simple iron catalyst for terminal alkene epoxidation.

[reaction: see text] A mu-oxo-iron(III) dimer, [((phen)(2)(H(2)O)Fe(III))(2)(mu-O)](ClO(4))(4), is an efficient epoxidation catalyst for a wide range of alkenes, including terminal alkenes, using peracetic acid as the oxidant. Low catalyst loadings, in situ catalyst preparation from common reagents, fast reaction times (<5 min at 0 degrees C), and enhanced reaction performance at high substrate concentrations combine to create a temporally and synthetically efficient procedure for alkene epoxidation.