Methyloxonium Triflate: an Efficient Catalyst for ring Opening of Epoxides with Alcohols under Ambient Conditions

Ring opening of various epoxides with different alcohols was studied at room temperature using methanolic solution of trifluoromethane sulphonic acid which in situ generates methyloxonium triflate. The methyloxonium trifalte (0.0625 mol%) was found to be an efficient and selective catalyst for the reaction giving excellent conversions of epoxide/ yields of product (81–>99%) under optimized reaction condition. The turnover number of the catalyst for ring opening of styrene oxide with methanol was found to be 1568, which is better than most of the reported methods.