Abstract
We report an approach to the asymmetric Baeyer-Villiger oxidation utilizing bioinformatics-inspired combinatorial screening for catalyst discovery. Scaled-up validation of our on-bead efforts with a circular dichroism-based assay of alcohols derived from the products of solution-phase reactions established the absolute configuration of lactone products; this assay proved equivalent to HPLC in its ability to evaluate catalyst performance, but was far superior in its speed of analysis. Further solution-phase screening of a focused library suggested a mode of asymmetric induction that draws distinct parallels with the mechanism of Baeyer-Villiger monooxygenases.