O-Insertion into Nonactivated C?H Bonds: The first observation of O2 cleavage by a P-450 enzyme model in the presence of a thiolate ligand

On reaction with ‘O’-donors or O₂, the synthetic P-450 analogue 2 undergoes O-insertion at a nonactivated C? H bond of the covalently bound substrate. The mechanism of O-insertion with O₂ most likely involves homolytic cleavage of the O? O bond followed by O-insertion via radical recombination.