The aza-Darzens reaction of lithium diethyl iodomethylphosphonate with enantiopure N-(2,4,6-trimethylphenylsulfinyl)imines affords a single diastereomeric N-sulfinylaziridine 2-phosphonate which, on treatment with MeMgBr, gives the corresponding NH-aziridine 2-phosphonate chiral building blocks. An improved asymmetric synthesis of (S)-(+)-2,4,6-trimethylphenylsulfinamide is also given.

No abstract

Tantalum(V) chloride has been demonstrated as an efficient catalyst in ring opening of epoxides with aromatic amines for the synthesis of b-amino alcohols for the first time.

[reaction: see text] N-Sulfinyl alpha-amino 1,3-dithioketals are prepared in high de and good yield by treating sulfinimines with lithio-1,3-dithianes. Selective removal of the N-sulfinyl or the thioketal groups affords stable alpha-amino 1,3-dithioketals and N-sulfinyl alpha-amino ketones, respectively. This new sulfinimine-derived chiral building block is employed in the asymmetric synthesis of polyoxypeptin amino acid (2S,3R)-(-)-3-hydroxy-3-methylproline.