Functionalised enones as starting materials for the construction of aziridine scaffolds.

alpha-Substituted beta-keto esters have been transformed by means of a straightforward procedure into aziridine-1,2-dicarboxylates, which have been efficiently converted into alkenyl aziridine-1,2-dicarboxylates through Wittig olefination reaction. The possibility of aziridine ring elaborations and the presence of an olefin function make these new molecules suitable scaffolds for further derivatisation into potential bioactive targets.