Artificial nonheme iron and manganese oxygenases for enantioselective olefin epoxidation and alkane hydroxylation reactions

•Nonheme iron and manganese complexes as synthetic models for monooxygenases.•Enantioselective epoxidation mediated by nonheme iron and manganese complexes.•Application of nonheme iron and manganese complexes in enantioselective aliphatic C(sp3)-H oxidation.•Mechanistic insights into the nature of active oxidants in biomimetic systems.