Methods for the Synthesis of Substituted Azetines.

Spurred on by the recent emerging interest from the chemical community for unsaturated four-membered heterocycles, an unprecedented approach to nitrogen-containing four-membered rings has been designed. 3,4-Disubstituted 2-azetines were synthesized from commercially available substrates, allowing for a straightforward access to a new library of chiral functionalized azetidines and amino alcohols. This original approach was applied to efficiently prepare functionalized azobenzenes, an emerging class of molecules with a large potential in photopharmacology.