Generation and Ring Opening of Aziridines in Telescoped Continuous Flow Processes.

A simple method for the preparation of a variety of N-sulfonyl aziridines (10 examples) from 1,2-amino alcohols under continuous flow conditions is described. Using flow based methods, the aziridines can be further ring opened with oxygen, carbon, and halide nucleophiles or ring expanded to imidazolines by Lewis acid promoted reaction with nitriles. Telescoping the aziridine generation and ring opening steps together in a microfluidic reactor allows the chemistry to be undertaken with limited exposure to the potentially hazardous aziridine intermediates.