Aziridines reaction with nucleophiles

In the dinitrobenzenecarboxamide, CB1954 or the quinones AZQ/BZQ (Figure 1, 12, 1 or 2 respectively), the aziridine moiety is deactivated by the electron-withdrawing nitro substituents or the electron-deficient quinone system respectively. However, on reduction the p Ta of the aziridine nitrogen increases, activating the site towards reaction with nucleophiles. 

Reaction with Oxygen Nucleophiles. In the presence of strong acids, eg, H2SO4, HBF, or BF, aziridines react with alcohols to form P-amino ethers (93) ... 

Reaction with Sulfur Nucleophiles, Because sulfai is highly nucleophilic, reactions of aziridines with sulfur nucleophiles generally proceed rapidly (111) and with good yields. The reaction of hydrogen sulfide [7783-06S-J with ethyleneimine yields cysteamine [60-23-1] (2-mercaptoethylamine) or bis(2-aminoethyl)sulfide [871-76-1] (2,112) depending on the molar ratio of the reactants. The use of NaHS for the synthesis of cysteamine has also been described (113). 

The most useful reactions combine carbanion nucleophiles with activated aziridines. For example, the ring expansion which occurs on treatment of aziridines (219) with malonate salts typifies the heterocyclic synthesis possible. The conversion is quite general since many analogous transformations have been observed in which different carbanion stabilizing substituents were employed (73S546). 

The Gabriel-Cromwell aziridine synthesis involves nucleophilic addition of a formal nitrene equivalent to a 2-haloacrylate or similar reagent [29]. Thus, there is an initial Michael addition, followed by protonation and 3-exo-tet ring-closure. Asymmetric variants of the reaction have been reported. N-(2-Bromo)acryloyl camphor-sultam, for example, reacts with a range of amines to give N-substituted (azir-idinyl)acylsultams (Scheme 4.23) [30]. 

O Brien et al. provided the first examples of olefin formation by reductive alkylation of aziridines [97]. Treatment of aziridine 267 with s-BuLi gave olefin 270 in 76% yield (Scheme 5.68). For the formation of olefin 270 they suggest a reaction pathway that proceeds in a manner analogous to that proposed for epoxides [36] namely, nucleophilic attack of s-BuLi on lithiated aziridine 268 to form dilithiated species 269, which eliminates Li2NTs (TsNH2 was observed as a product of this reaction) to yield olefin 270. 

The ring-opening reactions of aziridines 16 with amines deserve special attention. Unlike ring-openings with the other nucleophiles examined, they do not require added base, and they do not produce stoichiometric byproducts (as with azide). In certain cases, they do not even require a solvent, as exemplified by the ring-opening of aziridine 18 (Table 12.12, entries 1-3). In addition, the reactions... 

The majority of reactions of aziridines deal with acid-catalyzed ring opening with various nucleophiles. In this review only reactions with aziridine-2-car-boxylic esters are summarized (for other types of aziridines, see ref. [3]). 

The aziridine aldehyde 56 undergoes a facile Baylis-Hillman reaction with methyl or ethyl acrylate, acrylonitrile, methyl vinyl ketone, and vinyl sulfone [60]. The adducts 57 were obtained as mixtures of syn- and anfz-diastereomers. The synthetic utility of the Baylis-Hillman adducts was also investigated. With acetic anhydride in pyridine an SN2 -type substitution of the initially formed allylic acetate by an acetoxy group takes place to give product 58. Nucleophilic reactions of this product with, e. g., morpholine, thiol/Et3N, or sodium azide in DMSO resulted in an apparent displacement of the acetoxy group. Tentatively, this result may be explained by invoking the initial formation of an ionic intermediate 59, which is then followed by the reaction with the nucleophile as shown in Scheme 43. 

Sn2 substitution reactions of alkyl halides with hard nucleophiles such as alkyl anions can be achieved most readily with the aid of organocopper chemistry [95]. Sn2 reactions with epoxides and aziridines are also synthetically useful [96]. The... 

In another approach, 2-(alkylamino)alcohol is employed as starting material for aziridine syntheses with the aid of dihalogenophosphoranes (70BCJ1185). Intramolecular transformation of 3-azidopropyloxirane 73 results in a simultaneous formation of a condensed aziridino[l,2-a]pyrrol-idine system (Scheme 39). The azide group is first transformed into imino-phosphorane 74, the nucleophilic N atom cleaves the oxirane to form betaine 75 [as in the Mitsunobu reaction (81S1)], and the phosphorus is shifted from N to O and then eliminated as phosphane oxide under simultaneous cyclization to bicyclic 76 (89JA7500). 

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