Three aziridines

The addition of photochemically generated ethoxycarbonylnitrene to 16-dehydropregnenolone acetate to give three aziridines has been described.81 The corresponding addition of ethyl azidoformate to norbornene to give the aziridine (140) as the major product has been reported.82 The possible intervention of the triazoline (141) as an intermediate in the photoreaction has been excluded photoelimination of nitrogen from the triazoline (141) gave not only the aziridine (140) but also the imine (142) in a yield of 25%. 

The two-bond disconnection (re/ro-cycloaddition) approach also often works very well if the target molecule contains three-, four-, or five-membered rings (see section 1.13 and 2.5). The following tricyclic aziridine can be transformed by one step into a monocyclic amine (W. Nagata, 1968). In synthesis one would have to convert the amine into a nitrene, which-would add spontcaneously to a C—C double bond in the vicinity. 

The reaction of the vinylcyclopropanedicarboxylate 301 with amines affords an allylic amine via the 7r-allylpalladium complex 302[50]. Similarly, three-membered ring A -tosyl-2-(l,3-butadienyl)aziridine (303) and the four-mem-bered ring azetidine 304 can be rearranged to the five- and six-membered ring unsaturated cyclic amines[183]. 

MO methods have been used to calculate dipole moments of each of the three ring systems (73MI50403, B-70MI50400). Calculated values for aziridine are somewhat higher (2.09-2.40 D) than the known experimental value (1.89 D). Dipole moment studies on a few simple aziridines have led to the determination of the preferred conformation of N-arylaziridines in solution and in the vapor state (71JCS(C)2104, 66DOK(169)839). For the 1-azirine system, no values have been determined experimentally, but values of 2.40-2.56 D for 1-azirine and 2.50-2.51 D for 2-azirine have been calculated (73MI50403). 

This chapter will deal exclusively with three-membered rings containing the hetero atoms O, S and N, and fused to the steroid skeleton. Because of the conformational requirements in steroids, not all of the usual methods of synthesis of three-membered rings are applicable to the fused ring system. For the synthesis of steroids to which an aziridine, oxirane or thiirane is attached either in the side chain or at a ring position but not directly fused to the nucleus, the methods discussed in this chapter, as well as others, are applicable. 

The chapter is divided into three sections, devoted to the discussion of the synthesis of (1) oxiranes (epoxides), (2) aziridines (ethylene imines) and (3) thiiranes (episulfides). 

Iodine isocyanate was used to synthesize the first steroidal aziridine, 2, 3 -iminocholestane (95). from 5a-cholest-2-ene (91). This reaction sequence which is believed to proceed through a three-membered ring iodonium ion (92) illustrates the limitation of pseudohalogen additions for the synthesis of -aziridines. The iodonium complex forms from the least hindered side (usually alpha) and is opened tmK5-diaxially to give a -oriented nitrogen function. The 3a-iodo-2 -isocyanate (93) is converted by treatment with... 

The addition of diazo compounds generally leads to three membered tings, although in special cases, linear adducts with an intact diazo group [110] or l,3,4-oxadiazol-3-ines [111] can be isolated Most diazo compounds are unstable and yield oxirans and aziridines [112,113,114] Aziridines are obtained exclusively on reaction of certain polyfluorinated acyl imines with diazomethane [115]... 

Asymmetric transformation of imines into chiral aziridines remains less well developed than the analogous transformation of aldehydes into epoxides [49, 50, 51]. The reported methods can be divided into three conceptual categories involving... 

Oshima and coworkers reported the preparation of allylsilanes such as 148 by ringopening reactions of three-membered rings such as aziridines 147 with silylalu-minium reagents as shown in Scheme 2.38 [58]. 

Azirines (three-membered cyclic imines) are related to aziridines by a single redox step, and these reagents can therefore function as precursors to aziridines by way of addition reactions. The addition of carbon nucleophiles has been known for some time [52], but has recently undergone a renaissance, attracting the interest of several research groups. The cyclization of 2-(0-tosyl)oximino carbonyl compounds - the Neber reaction [53] - is the oldest known azirine synthesis, and asymmetric variants have been reported. Zwanenburg et ah, for example, prepared nonracemic chiral azirines from oximes of 3-ketoesters, using cinchona alkaloids as catalysts (Scheme 4.37) [54]. 

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