Aziridines synthesis from 1,2,3-triazolines

Synthesis of triazolines or aziridines from azides by photodecomposition or flash vacuum pyrolysis of 1,2,3-triazolines. 

Photoelimination of nitrogen from triazolines can similarly be employed in the synthesis of aziridines. Thus, the triazolines (41) have been converted in this way... 

Numerous aziridines have been prepared by triazoline photolysis it is the principal route to the synthesis of N-arylaziridines. Photolysis of triazolines derived from simple79,113,144 and cyclic79,87,113 olefins as well as norbomene... 

The thermolysis of triazoline adducts from other polycyclic bridgehead olefins is analogous to that of the norbornene-azide adducts (Scheme 164) and affords a route for the synthesis of various aziridine ring sys-... 

Of the numerous other aziridine syntheses, there are several multistep procedures from alkenes. Though not strictly within the scope of this review, the practising chemist will wish to consider their merits alongside the rect syntheses, and the main possibilities are summarized in Scheme 8. There are several good recent reviews, - and two older compilations remain very useful. - Syntheses of those intermediates of Scheme 8 accessible from alkenes are described in later sections of tiie present review, and syntheses of epoxides (Volume 6, Chapter 1.1 and Volume 7, Chapters 3.1 and 3.2) and triazolines (Volume 5, Ch ter 3.1) are described elsewhere in Comprehensive Organic Synthesis . It is important to note that by careful choice of route one can either commence with alkene (14) and retain the cisitrans stereochemistry in the resulting aziridine (16), or start with alkene (13) and change the cisitrans relatitm-ships of the substituents. 

The dipolar cycloaddition of an alkyl azide with an alkene to form an aziridine has been exploited in the total synthesis of the alkaloid ( )-aspidospermidine <20050BC213>. Enone 353 was prepared in 11 steps from 3-ethoxycyclohexenone and coupled to 2-iodo nitrobenzene under Ullman cross-coupling conditions. The acetate group of 354 was hydrolyzed and the resulting alcohol converted to an azide using standard conditions in 75% overall yield. The cycloaddition of the azide with the enone was conducted in refluxing benzene for 3 days. The fused-ring aziridine 355 was the only product isolated. None of the initial dipolar cycloadduct triazoline was observed. The... 

The synthesis of monosubstituted A -l,2,3-triazolines from 1-arylazo-aziridines (11.1-5) has been reported to give excellent yields (Eq. 9). The starting materials (11.1-5) are often unstable and were isomerized without purification. A more recent report provides a promising alternative and extension for the synthesis of these compounds from dimethyloxosulfonium methylide (11.1-7) (Eq, 10). The use of 4-nitrophenyl- or benzoyl azide produced only triazenes. ... 

It is well known that alkyl azides also behave as 1,3-dipoles in intramolecular thermal cycloaddition reactions. The formation of two carbon-nitrogen bonds leads to triazolines, which are usually not stable. They decompose after the loss of nitrogen to aziridines, diazo compounds, and heterocyclic imines. There are a limited number of examples reported in which the triazoline was isolated [15]. The dipolar cycloaddition methodology has been extremely useful for the synthesis of many natural products with interesting biological activities [16], In recent years, the cycloaddition approach has allowed many successful syntheses of complex molecules which would be difficult to obtain by different routes. For instance, Cha and co-workers developed a general approach to functionalized indolizidine and pyrrolizidine alkaloids such as (-i-)-crotanecine [17] and (-)-slaframine [18]. The key step of the enantioselective synthesis of (-)-swainsonine (41), starting from 36, involves the construction of the bicyclic imine 38 by an intramolecular 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition of an azide derived from tosylate 36, as shown in Scheme 6 [ 19). 

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