Rearrangement reactions Lewis acid-assisted

Treatment of 2,3 Cpoxy-l-amines with Lewis acid induces a rearrangement to aziridinium ions that react efficiently with a nucleophiles to give functionalized hydroxy sulfides or hydroxy amines (Equation 23) <1997SL11>. Under the influence of ethylaluminium chloride, an epoxide tethered to an azide undergoes Lewis acid-assisted cyclization followed by an intramolecular Schmidt reaction and subsequent in situ reduction of the intermediate iminium species upon addition of sodium borohydride (Scheme 8). This protocol was used as a key step in a novel synthesis of indolizidine alkaloids of pharmaceutical interest <20030L583, 2004JOC3093>. 

The reaction that normally occurs on treatment of a ketoxime with a Lewis or proton acid is the Beckmann rearrangement (18-17) fragmentations are considered side reactions, often called abnormal or second-order Beckmann rearrangements. Obviously, the substrates mentioned are much more susceptible to fragmentation than are ordinary ketoximes, since in each case an unshared pair is available to assist in removal of the group cleaving from the carbon. However, fragmentation is a side reaction even with ordinary ketoximes and, in cases where a particularly stable carbocation can be cleaved, may be the main reaction. ... 

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