Room temperature oxidation of olefins catalysed by a symmetrical (mu-oxo)(mu-hydroxo)diiron(III) complex (1) based on the amino pyridyl ligand bpmen (bpmen =N,N'-dimethyl-N,N'-bis(2-pyridyl methyl)ethane-1,2-diamine) with hydrogen peroxide under the conditions of limiting substrate is described. Excellent substrate conversions have been achieved under ambient reaction conditions. The olefin oxidation efficacy of the 1/H2O2 system has been found to get improved in presence of acetic acid. The catalytic system has been shown to oxidise electron -deficient olefins to the corresponding cis-diols, while epoxidation is favoured in case of electron -rich olefins. The -oxo diiron(III) core of the catalyst 1 has been found be regenerated after the catalytic turnovers. Addition of a second batch of substrate and oxidant at the end of the olefin oxidation results in the formation of almost identical amounts of epoxides/diols. Moreover, the regenerated catalyst exhibits a significantly higher preference towards the oxidation of electron -deficient olefins. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.