Oxidation of catechol and of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol by dioxiranes

In a biomimetic transformation, the selective oxidation of catechol (2) to Z,Z-muconic acid (3) has been achieved under extremely mild conditions using methyl(trifluoromethyl)dioxirane (1b). Both dioxirane 1b and dimethyldioxirane (1a) have been applied to the oxidation of 2,6-di-tert-butylphenol (4); the product natures suggest the incursion of radical pathways.