N,2-Dilithioalkylamines from Aziridines by Naphthalene-Catalyzed Reductive Opening. Synthetic Applications

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jo00090a044

The reductive opening of aziridines 1a-c with lithium in the presence of a catalytic amount of naphthalene at -78 deg C led to the corresponding dianionic intermediates 2a-c, which are stable species under these reaction conditions and react with electrophilic reagents , (EtO)2CO, CH2=CHCO2Me, , PhCH=NPh, MeI, and CH2=CHCH2Br> to give, after hydrolysis with water, the corresponding difunctionalized compounds 3-5.When the reductive opening and the reaction with electrophiles were carried out on chiral aziridines 8 and 9, enantiomerically pure difunctionalized compounds 12 were obtained with the same stereochemistry, independently of the stereochemistry of diastereomeric starting aziridines 8 and 9.