Polyleucines, reported by JuliC and Colonna to be effective enantioselective catalysts for epoxidation of chalcones with alkaline H2O2: Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 19, 929 (1980); Tetrahedron, 39, 1635 (1983); 40, 5207 (1984), have more recently been developed by S. M. Roberts and co-workers for epoxidation of a variety of enones and similar electron-poor alkenes, in high yield and ee; for reviews, see: Adv. Biochem. Eng. Biotechnol., 63, 125 (1996); Bioorg. Med. Chem., 7, 125 (1999). Catalysts of this type (insoluble in water and organic solvents) can be recycled with minimal loss of activity in aqueous: J. Org. Chem., 58, 6247 (1993), or non-aqueous: J. Chem. Soc., Perkin 1, 3171 (1998) systems.