An amphiphilic rhodium(iii) complex has been incorporated in closed bilayers of surfactants with positive, zwitterionic, or negative charges. In the presence of formate this rhodium complex efficiently catalyzes the reduction of a variety of electron carriers and manganese(iii) porphyrins. The charge of the surfactant head groups determines the acidity of the reduced Rh III hydride complex and the rate of reduction, which increases on going from negatively to positively charged surfactants. A manganese(iii) porphyrin, incorporated in the bilayers together with the Rh complex, can be used as an artificial cytochrome P450-type epoxidation catalyst. The relative concentrations of Mn II and Mn III porphyrin depend on the reduction and reoxidation rates, and an oscillating reaction is observed at a Rh complex/Mn porphyrin ratio of 10. A variety of substrates are epoxidized by reductive activation of O 2 by this model system with turnover numbers of the same order of magnitude as those of the enzyme system. The charge on the surfactant has a dramatic effect on the catalytic epoxidation activity of the model system. Aggregates of positively charged surfactant molecules do not display catalytic activity in this reaction, probably because the protons required for cleavage of the oxygen ± oxygen bond are repelled at the aggregate surface.