A comparative study of C2-symmetric bis(aziridine) ligands in some transition metal-mediated asymmetric transformations

Article abstract of DOI:10.1016/S0040-4020(98)00987-9

A comparative study has been made of the performance of differently substituted C₂-symmetric bis(aziridine) ligands in a variety of metal- mediated asymmetric reactions. The metals studied were osmium (dihydroxylation), palladium (allylic alkylation) and copper (cyclopropanation and aziridination), the ligands being chosen so as to allow evaluation of both electronic and steric effects. The electronic effects were most pronounced for complexes of palladium, which seem to bind rather loosely to this type of ligand. For the other metals, steric effects play a more important role.