Synthesis of enantiomerically pure 2-(N-aryl,N-alkyl-aminomethyl)aziridines: a new class of ligands for highly enantioselective asymmetric synthesis

A simple and effective synthesis of enantiomerically pure 2-(N-aryl-, N-alkyl-aminomethyl)aziridines from (2S)-N-tritylaziridine-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester has been developed. Treating of this key ester with several primary and secondary amines in the presence of AlMe₃ provided the corresponding chiral N-trityl-2-carboxamides, and their reduction performed with different reagents resulted in the formation of the expected 2-(aminomethyl)aziridines. The choice of reaction conditions allows to either keep or leave the trityl substituent in the product. Such 2-(aminoalkyl)aziridines have shown very high catalytic efficiency in the asymmetric arylation of aldehydes and in other testing asymmetric reactions. On the other hand, homochiral N-trityl-2-carboxamides are interesting building blocks for the synthesis of various biologically active compounds.