Opposite regiospecific ring opening of 2-(cyanomethyl)aziridines by hydrogen bromide and benzyl bromide: experimental study and theoretical rationalization

Synthetic Applications of Aziridinium Ions

Nonactivated aziridine with an electron-donating group at the ring nitrogen should be activated to an aziridinium ion prior to being converted to cyclic and acyclic nitrogen-containing molecules. This review describes ways to generate aziridinium ions and their utilization for synthetic purposes. Specifically, the intra- and intermolecular formation of aziridinium ions with proper electrophiles are classified, and their regio- and stereoselective transformations with nucleophiles are described on the basis of recent developments.

Alkylative Aziridine Ring-Opening Reactions

In this study, the highly strained three-membered aziridine ring was successfully activated as the aziridinium ion by alkylation of the ring nitrogen with a methyl, ethyl or allyl group, which was followed by ring opening with external nucleophiles such as acetate and azide. Such alkylative aziridine ring opening provides an easy route for the synthesis of various N-alkylated amine-containing molecules with concomitant introduction of an external nucleophile at either its α- or β-position.

Synthesis of γ-Lactams by Formal Cycloadditions with Ketenes

The synthesis of γ-lactams is reported by a formal (3+2) cycloaddition between readily available ketenes and aziridines or a one-pot formal (2+1+2) cycloaddition using imines as aziridine precursors. The method is practical, is scalable, and affords high yields. It also offers a high level of regio- and diastereoselectivity on a wide range of substrates as well as a high stereoselectivity in the case of enantiopure aziridines.

Theoretical insight into the regioselective ring-expansions of bicyclic aziridinium ions

Transient bicyclic aziridinium ions are known to undergo ring-expansion reactions, paving the way to functionalized nitrogen-containing heterocycles. In this study, the regioselectivity observed in the ring-expansion reactions of 1-azoniabicyclo[n.1.0]alkanes was investigated from a computational viewpoint to study the ring-expansion pathways of two bicyclic systems with different ring sizes. Moreover, several nucleophiles leading to different experimental results were investigated. The effect of solvation was taken into account using both explicit and implicit solvent models. This theoretical rationalization provides valuable insight into the observed regioselectivity and may be used as a predictive tool in future studies.

Theoretical investigation of the regioselective ring opening of 2-methylaziridine. Lewis acid effect

The formation of substituted 1,2-diamines via the regiospecific nucleophilic ring opening of 2-methylaziridine with methylamine was performed by nucleophilic attack at aziridine carbon atoms. A detailed theoretical study was investigated by density functional theory (DFT) at the B3LYP level and second order Moller Plesset perturbation theory (MP2) by using the 6-311G(d,p) basis set. The third Grimme correction term (D3) was used to take into account weak interactions. Solvent effects were computed in methanol and dimethylsulfoxide using the polarizable continuum model (PCM). Emphasis was placed on the ring opening mechanisms of neutral aziridines and aziridinium ions obtained through N-complexation with the BF₃ Lewis acid. Moreover, the effect of substituent groups on the regioselectivity of the ring opening was investigated. The nucleophilic attack was carried out via two pathways (frontside attack M1 and backside attack M2) where activation barriers proved the preference for ring opening through the backside attack at the C3 aziridine carbon atom. The obtained results showed that the frontside attack with methylamine takes place along a concerted mechanism that leads to formation of products through one transition state. However, the backside attack is carried via a stepwise process in which the methylamine attack takes place in an S_N2 fashion where the leaving group is the ring nitrogen. It first conduces a ring opening considered as the rate-determining step followed by formation of a zwitterionic intermediate. This latter undergoes a rotation to allow the proton transfer step and finally leads to formation of the thermodynamic products.

β-Aminocarbonates in Regioselective and Ring Expansion Reactions

The reactivity of β-aminocarbonates as anisotropic electrophiles has been investigated with several phenols. Products distribution shows that the regioselectivity of the anchimerically driven alkylation reaction depends on the nucleophiles. The results suggest that in the presence of nucleophiles that are also good leaving groups, the reaction takes place under thermodynamic control favoring the attack on the most sterically hindered carbon of the cyclic aziridinium intermediate. Furthermore, when an enantiomerically pure pyrrolidine-based carbonate was used, the reaction with phenols proceeds via a bicyclic aziridinium intermediate leading to the stereoselective synthesis of optically active 3-substituted piperidines via ring expansion reaction. These results were confirmed both by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis.

The effect of backbone flexibility on site-selective modification of macrocycles

The interplay of rotatable backbone torsions determines the ring-opening regioselectivity of electrophilic aziridines in macrocyclic peptide scaffolds.

Synthetic and theoretical investigation on the one-pot halogenation of β-amino alcohols and nucleophilic ring opening of aziridinium ions

Aziridinium ions are useful reactive intermediates for the synthesis of enantiomerically enriched building blocks. However, N,N-dialkyl aziridinium ions are relatively underutilized in the synthesis of optically active molecules as compared to other three-membered ring cogeners, aziridines and epoxides. The characterization of both optically active aziridinium ions and secondary β-halo amines as the precursor molecules of aziridinium ions has been scarcely reported and is often unclear. In this paper, we report for the first time the preparation and experimental and theoretical characterization of optically active aziridinium ions and secondary β-halo amines. Optically active secondary N,N-substituted β-halo amines were efficiently synthesized from N,N-substituted alaninol via formation and ring opening at the more hindered carbon of aziridinium ions by halides. Optically active β-halo amines and aziridinium ions were characterized by NMR and computational analyses. The structure of an optically active β-chloro amine was confirmed via X-ray crystallographic analysis. The aziridinium ions derived from N,N-dibenzyl alaniol remained stable only for several hours, which was long enough for analyses of NMR and optical activity. The stereospecific ring opening of aziridinium ions by halides was computationally studied using DFT and highly-accurate DLPNO-CCSD(T) methods. The highly regioselective and stereoselective ring opening of aziridinium ions was applied for efficient one-pot conversion of β-alaninols to enantiomerically enriched β-amino alcohols, β-amino nitriles, and vicinal diamine derivatives.

C–F bond substitution via aziridinium ion intermediates

A mild and distinct methodology for instantaneous β-amino fluoride substitution mediated by La[N(SiMe₃)₂]₃ has been developed. The reaction proceeds via a reactive aziridinium ion intermediate, which readily reacts with various nucleophiles. This allows the use of fluorine as a modular functionality and further expands the role of aziridinium ions in organic synthesis.

Synthesis of 2-aryl-3-(2-cyanoethyl)aziridines and their chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis towards γ-lactams and γ-lactones

Trans- andcis-2-aryl-3-(2-cyanoethyl)aziridines were transformed into 4-[aryl(alkylamino)methyl]butyrolactones and/or 5-[aryl(hydroxy)methyl]pyrrolidin-2-onesviachemical and enzymatic hydrolysis of the cyano group, followed by ring expansion.

Nucleophile-dependent regio- and stereoselective ring opening of 1-azoniabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane tosylate

1-[(1R)-(1-Phenylethyl)]-1-azoniabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane tosylate was generated as a stable bicyclic aziridinium salt from the corresponding 2-(3-hydroxypropyl)aziridine upon reaction with p-toluenesulfonyl anhydride. This bicyclic aziridinium ion was then treated with various nucleophiles including halides, azide, acetate, and cyanide in CH3CN to afford either piperidines or pyrrolidines through regio- and stereoselective ring opening, mediated by the characteristics of the applied nucleophile. On the basis of DFT calculations, ring-opening reactions under thermodynamic control yield piperidines, whereas reactions under kinetic control can yield both piperidines and pyrrolidines depending on the activation energies for both pathways.

Cationic Ring-Opening Polymerization of 2-Propyl-2-oxazolines: Understanding Structural Effects on Polymerization Behavior Based on Molecular Modeling

The surprising difference in the cationic ring-opening polymerization rate of 2-cyclopropyl-2-oxazoline versus 2-n-propyl-2-oxazoline and 2-isopropyl-2-oxazoline was investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The polymerization kinetics of all three oxazolines were experimentally measured in acetonitrile at 140 °C, and the polymerization rate constant (k_p) was found to decrease in the order c-PropOx > n-PropOx > i-PropOx. Theoretical free energy calculations confirmed the trend for k_p, and a set of DFT-based reactivity descriptors, electrostatics, and frontier molecular orbitals were studied to detect the factors controlling this peculiar behavior. Our results show that the observed reactivity is dictated by electrostatic effects. More in particular, the charge on the nitrogen atom of the monomer, used to measure its nucleophilicity, was the most negative for c-PropOx. Furthermore, the electrophilicity of the cations does not change substantially, and thus, the nucleophilicity of the monomers is the driving factor for k_p.

H12461. Fluorine as a Regiocontrol Element in the Ring Openings of Bicyclic Aziridiniums

The origin of the variation in the regioselectivity of the nucleophilic ring-opening of a series of bicyclic aziridinium ions derived from N-alkylprolinols was investigated by quantum chemical computations (M06-2X/6-31+G(d,p)-SMD). These aziridiniums differ only in the degree and the stereochemistry of fluoro substitution at C(4). With the azide ion as nucleophile, the ratio of the piperidine to the pyrrolidine product was computed. An electrostatic gauche effect influences the conformation of the adjoining five-membered ring in the fluorinated bicyclic aziridinium. This controls the regioselectivity of the aziridinium ring-opening.

Solvent-catalyzed ring-chain-ring tautomerization in axially chiral compounds

The mechanism of ring-chain-ring tautomerization and the prominent effect of the solvent environment have been computationally investigated in an effort to explain the enantiomeric interconversion observed in 2-oxazolidinone derivatives, heterocyclic analogues of biphenyl atropisomers, which were isolated as single stable enantiomers and have the potential to be used as axially chiral catalysts. This study has shed light on the identity of the intermediate species involved in the ring-chain-ring tautomerization process as well as the catalytic effect of polar protic solvents. These mechanistic details will prove very useful in predicting and understanding ring-chain tautomeric equilibria in similar heterocyclic systems and will further enable experimentalists to devise appropriate experimental conditions in which axially chiral catalysts remain stable as single enantiomers.

Chemical and enzymatic synthesis of 2-(2-carbamoylethyl)- and 2-(2-carboxyethyl)aziridines and their conversion into δ-lactams and γ-lactones

Treatment of 1-arylmethyl-2-(2-cyanoethyl)aziridines with a nitrile hydratase afforded the corresponding 2-(2-carbamoylethyl)aziridines, which underwent rearrangement into 5-hydroxypiperidin-2-ones upon heating under microwave irradiation. In addition, treatment of 2-(2-cyanoethyl)aziridines with a nitrilase selectively afforded 5-hydroxypiperidin-2-ones in good yields. On the other hand, chemical hydrolysis of 2-(2-cyanoethyl)aziridines using KOH in EtOH/H(2)O furnished the corresponding potassium 3-(aziridin-2-yl)propanoates, which, upon acidification with acetic acid, smoothly rearranged into 4-(aminomethyl)butyrolactones.

Regioselectivity in the ring opening of non-activated aziridines

In this critical review, the ring opening of non-activated 2-substituted aziridines via intermediate aziridinium salts will be dealt with. Emphasis will be put on the relationship between the observed regioselectivity and inherent structural features such as the nature of the C2 aziridine substituent and the nature of the electrophile and the nucleophile. This overview should allow chemists to gain insight into the factors governing the regioselectivity in aziridinium ring openings (81 references).