Olefins, on treatment with tert-butyl perbenzoate in the presence of a catalytic amount of chiral copper bis(oxazolinyl)pyridine complexes, gave optically active allylic benzoates. A variety of cyclic olefins were tried in the reaction and a maximum of 81% ee was obtained during this asymmetric oxidation reaction. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd