Chiral CpxRhodium(III)-Catalyzed Enantioselective Aziridination of Unactivated Terminal Alkenes

Abstract

Chiral cyclopentadienyl-rhodium(III) CpxRh(III) catalysis has been demonstrated to be competent for catalyzing highly enantioselective aziridination of challenging unactivated terminal alkenes and nitrene sources. The chiral CpxRh(III) catalysis system exhibited outstanding catalytic performance and wide functional group tolerance, yielding synthetically important and highly valuable chiral aziridines with good to excellent yields and enantioselectivities (up to 99 % yield, 93 % ee). This protocol presents a novel and effective strategy for synthesizing enantioenriched aziridines from simple alkenes. Various transformations were performed on the aziridine products, illustrating the versatility and synthetic potential of this protocol for constructing highly functionalized compounds.