Terminal aziridines by alpha-deprotonation/electrophile trapping of N-protected aziridine.

N-tert-Butylsulfonyl and N-tert-butylsulfinyl aziridine undergo alpha-lithiation/electrophile trapping providing a new entry to terminal aziridines. With N-tert-butylsulfinyl aziridine complete asymmetric induction is observed alpha to nitrogen.

Asymmetric catalysis by chiral lanthanide complexes in water.

The development of catalytic, asymmetric transformations in water is a challenging task. The lanthanides are becoming reagents of choice for many Lewis acid-catalyzed reactions in aqueous media as they are water tolerant. However, enantioselective reactions catalyzed by lanthanides are difficult to achieve in water due to the instability of the reported catalysts.