The salen and porphyrin have the similar structures and properties, and salen-M and metalloporphyrin complexes have also the similarities. In this review, the salen-M complex was crowned as a bionic catalyst. It is believed that effective stereochemical communication between substrate and enzyme is essential for attaining high enantioselectivity in asymmetric reaction, and most of the successful salen-M catalysts also operate on this principle. According to these, salen-M complex catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation for olefins was discussed in detail, and the linear relationship between enantioselectivities and 5,5'-substituen effect on salen was developed. Moreover, enantioselectivities were still related to the structure of the salen-M complexes and substrates, as well as the reaction conditions.

Key words: salen-M complex, enzyme, enantioselectivity