Rhodium(I)-Catalyzed Intermolecular Aza-[4+3] Cycloaddition of Vinyl Aziridines and Dienes: Atom-Economical Synthesis of Enantiomerically Enriched Functionalized Azepines.

A new synthetic application of vinyl aziridines as N-containing three-atom components in a rhodium-catalyzed [4+3] cycloaddition reaction is described. The reaction proceeds well with various silyl dienol ethers and vinyl aziridines, and enables the efficient synthesis of highly functionalized azepines in an enantioselective manner with net inversion of absolute configuration. The salient features of the transformation include the use of readily available substrates, high selectivity, and mild reaction conditions, as well as the versatile functionalization of the products.