Cationic late-transition-metal complexes catalyze the ring opening of aziridines with amines

Abstract

Cationic palladium and nickel complexes have been found to catalyze the ring-opening of meso-N-aryl aziridines with anilines very efficiently and furnish valuable 1,2-diamines in typically excellent yields. The active catalysts were generated in situ from the corresponding metal dichloride bis(triphenylphosphine) complexes through chloride abstraction with a silver salt. This new protocol is applicable across a broad substrate range with both cyclic as well as acyclic aziridines. In addition, cationic gold-phosphine complexes proved to be highly reactive as well as delivering products in comparable rates and yields.