The asymmetric synthesis of terminal aziridines by methylene transfer from sulfonium ylides to imines

A new ylide-based protocol for the asymmetric aziridination of imines via methylene transfer has been developed involving the use of a simple chiral sulfonium salt and an organic strong base. A systematic study identified triisopropylphenyl sulfonylimines as optimal substrates for the process. Unexpectedly, hindered C-2-symmetric sulfonyl salts incorporating bulky ethers at C-2 and C-5 - which had previously been useful in the corresponding epoxidation chemistry - decomposed in these aziridination reactions via competing elimination pathways. Under optimised conditions it was found that a simple salt derived from (2R,5R)-2,5-diisopropyl thiolane could mediate asymmetric methylene transfer to a range of imines with uniformly excellent yields with 19-30% ee. Since this is a similar level of enantiomeric excess to that obtained using these same salts in epoxidation chemistry, it was concluded that if more bulky sulfonium salts could be devised which were resistant to decomposition under the reaction conditions, that highly enantioselective aziridine formation by methylene transfer would be possible.