Efficient synthesis of highly functionalized cyclic aminimides

[reaction: see text]. Simple condensation reactions of various alpha,beta-epoxy or alpha,beta-aziridinyl methyl esters with 1,1-dialkyl hydrazines provided cyclic aminimides (1,1-dialkyl-3-oxopyrazolidines) with a heteroatom substituent at the 4-position in good yields. The reaction proceeds smoothly, without any coreagent, providing the product as an easily isolable precipitate. The reaction is expected to be a good candidate for combinatorial synthesis of a highly functionalized five-membered ring scaffold. The scope and limitations of this reaction were investigated by varying the substituents R(1)-R(5).