Abstract Novel hydrogen atom donors for the reductive titanocene-catalyzed epoxide opening are presented. While the potentially attractive cyclopentadienes gave only moderate yields of the desired alcohols, substituted, nontoxic, and commercially available 1, 4-cyclohexadienes, eg γ-terpinene, in combination with more elaborate catalysts gave better or similar results than the much more expensive and carcinogenic 1, 4-cyclohexadiene. In ...
