Aziridines stability

A sulfonyl substituent at the carbon of aziridines stabilizes the ring anion so that an alkyl moiety can be introduced at this position. As the ring is activated by the sulfonyl group, alkylated aziridines undergo a ready ring... 

The consequence is that although the two possible pyramids are nonidentical mirror images, their lifetime at room temperature is so short that they cannot be detected by conventional means, and amines are never optically active. However, if structural features can retard the rate of pyramidal inversion, then the two forms could be detectable, which is exactly what happens in aziridines. Stability of the pyramid in a cyclic amine means that cis,trans isomers can exist if another substituent is present on a ring carbon. In 1,2-dimethylaziridine, the pyramidal inversion rate is slow enough at —40°C that both the cis and trans forms can be detected by NMR spectroscopy. 

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). 

There are at least two mechanisms available for aziridine cis-trans isomerism. The first is base-catalyzed and proceeds via an intermediate carbanion (235). The second mechanism can be either thermally or photochemically initiated and proceeds by way of an intermediate azomethine ylide. The absence of a catalytic effect and interception of the 1,3-dipole intermediate provide support for this route. A variety of aziridinyl ketones have been found to undergo equilibration when subjected to base-catalyzed conditions (65JA1050). In most of these cases the cis isomer is more stable than the trans. Base-catalyzed isotope exchange has also been observed in at least one molecule which lacks a stabilizing carbonyl group (72TL3591). 

Equilibration of aziridines via azomethine ylides has been reported for a variety of structures (67JA1753). Most aziridines equilibrated by this method show greater cis stability. An energy barrier has been detected between the two isomeric azomethine ylides (69AG(E)602>. 

Thus, in contrast to benzothiepins, dibenzo compounds can be synthesized by direct acid-catalyzed elimination of water from hydroxy derivatives, or of amines from amino derivatives, at elevated temperatures due to their thermal stability. As in the case of benzothiepins, dibenzo derivatives can also be prepared by base-catalyzed elimination from the corresponding halo derivatives however, the yields are somewhat lower compared to the acid-catalyzed reactions. As a special case, an aziridine derivative was deaminated by palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation to afford the corresponding dibenzothiepin.69... 

Since the mid-1990s, synthetic attention has been directed more towards the use of metal-stabilized nitrenes as synthetic effectors of alkene aziridination. In 1969 it was reported that Cu(i) salts were capable of mediating alkene aziridination when treated with tosyl azide, but the method was limited in scope and was not adopted as a general method for the synthesis of aziridines [12]. Metaloporphyrins [13] were shown to be catalysts for the aziridination of alkenes in the presence of the nitrene precursor N-tosyliminophenyliodinane [14] in the early 1980s, but the reaction did... 

Metalated Epoxides and Aziridines in Synthesis 5.2.4.2 Silyl-stabilized Lithiated Epoxides... 

A tert-butyl ester serves as an efficient organyl-stabilizing group for a lithiated aziridine when the N-protecting group is a chelating moiety. Deprotonation/elec-... 

As well as for metalated epoxides, the trifluoromethyl moiety also proved an effective organyl-stabilizing group for metalated aziridines. Lithiated aziridine 241 reacted stereoselectively with carbonyl-containing electrophiles, and phenyl disulfide and chlorotrimethylsilane were also trapped in good yield (Scheme 5.60) [70b, 85],... 

Sulfonylaziridine 243 was halogenated in carbon tetrahalides in the presence of KOH as base [86] (Scheme 5.61). Although other examples of electrophile trapping of sulfonyl- and phosphonyl-stabilized metalated aziridines exist, the reactions were not stereoselective [87]. 

Florio et al. have employed heteroaromatic rings as organyl-stabilizing groups for metalated aziridines as well as for metalated epoxides. Regioselective deprotonation of aziridine 246 with n-BuLi, followed by addition of Mel, gave aziridine 247 (Scheme 5.62) [88]. 

Desilylation of a,P-aziridinylsilanes is a route to nonstabilized metalated aziridines. Treatment of 254 with CsF in the presence of PhCHO furnished substituted aziridine 255 in good yield (Scheme 5.65). Interestingly, the isomeric aziridine 256 gave azirine 257 on treatment with CsF, presumably via a phenyl-stabilized metalated aziridine [91]. 

Aziridine is the only one that has a serious instability risk according to CHETAH. It is due to the presence of a strained ring, which gives an endothermic character to the compound. As its stability should be more or less the same as ethylene oxide, so should be its propensity for polymerisation. 

The evidence for the involvement of 1,3-dipoles as discrete intermediates includes the observation that the reaction rates are independent of dipolarophile concentration. This fact indicates that the ring opening is the rate-determining step in the reaction. Ring opening is most facile for aziridines that have an electron-attracting substituent to stabilize the carbanion center in the dipole. 

Synthetic work commenced with evaluation of an azomethine ylide dipole for the proposed intramolecular dipolar cycloaddition. A number of methods exist for the preparation of azomethine ylides, including, inter alia, transformations based on fluoride-mediated desilylation of a-silyliminium species, electrocyclic ring opening of aziridines, and tautomerization of a-amino acid ester imines [37]. In particular, the fluoride-mediated desilylation of a-silyliminium species, first reported by Vedejs in 1979 [38], is among the most widely used methods for the generation of non-stabilized azomethine ylides (Scheme 1.6). 

An interesting contrast is shown in the stabilities of the aziridines derived from the isomeric A-/erf-butyl 2-methylpropylideneimine and A-iso-propyl 2,2-dimethyl-propylidineimine. Solvolysis of the A-terr-butyl derivative occurs readily under the basic conditions, whereas the aziridine derived from the A-wo-propyl compound is more stable and can be isolated in 75% yield. 

The thermolytic preparation by De Shong et al. (74) of azomethine ylides from aziridines and their intermolecular reactions are the first examples of singly stabilized ylides of this type. However, the protocol has been further extended to include intramolecular processes. Aziridines tethered to both activated and unactivated alkenes were subjected to flash vacuum thermolysis generating cycloadducts in moderate-to-excellent yields. While previously singly activated alkenes had furnished low material yields via an intermolecular process, the intramolecular analogue represents a major improvement. Typically, treatment of 222 under standard conditions led to the formation of 223 in 80% yield as a single cis isomer. Similarly, the cis precursor furnished adduct 224 in 52% yield, although as a 1 1 diastereomeric mixture (Scheme 3.77). 

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