Telescoped synthesis of vicinal diamines via ring-opening of electrochemically generated aziridines in flow

Abstract

A vicinal diamine motif can be found in numerous natural compounds and pharmaceuticals, making it an important synthetic target. Herein, we report a telescoped synthesis of vicinal diamines under continuous flow conditions. This approach involves the electrochemical aziridination of alkenes with primary amines, followed by the strain-release driven ring-opening using various nitrogen nucleophiles. The efficacy of the developed method was demonstrated through the synthesis of diverse symmetrically and non-symmetrically substituted vicinal diamines, as well as vicinal amino azides, which can be further hydrogenated to diamines in flow. Additionally, O-centered nucleophiles were employed for the ring-opening of aziridines in our telescoped synthesis, yielding vicinal amino ethers and alcohol. This process offers a streamlined and efficient pathway for the direct synthesis of valuable products from readily available starting materials, bypassing the isolation of unstable aziridine intermediates.

Graphical Abstract