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Updated: Aug 8, 2025

Synthesis and Purification of Iodoaziridines Involving Quantitative Selection of the Optimal Stationary Phase for Chromatography
Published on: May 16, 2014
Stereospecific Single-Pot Route to Chiral Imidazolidines from Aziridines Using a 2D Cu Metal-Organic Framework
Debesh Sharma1, Sagarmani Rasaily1, Shivanand Chettri1
1Department of Chemistry, Sikkim University, Tadong, Gangtok 737102, East Sikkim, India.
Abstract:
The role of coordinatively unsaturated sites (CUS) in metal-organic framework (MOF)-catalyzed organic transformation is vital; however, the design and generation of such sites are challenging. We, therefore, report the synthesis of a novel two-dimensional (2D) MOF, [Cu(BTC)(Mim)] (Cu-SKU-3), with pre-existing unsaturated Lewis acid sites. The presence of these active CUS facilitates a ready-to-use attribute in Cu-SKU-3, thereby subsiding the lengthy activation processes associated with MOF-based catalysis. The material has been completely characterized using single crystal X-ray diffraction (SCXRD), powder XRD (PXRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen (CHN), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analyses. We directly utilize Cu-SKU-3 for the synthesis of biologically valued chiral imidazolidine motifs in a one-pot fashion starting from aziridines. The chiral imidazolidines are synthesized in good yield (up to 89%) and with high optical purity (ee > 98-99%). Mechanistically, the transformation proceeds in a tandem fashion through stereospecific ring-opening of aziridines followed by the intramolecular cyclization (via sp3 C-H functionalization) reaction forming chiral imidazolidines. The material has an excellent heterogeneous attribute and can be reused several times for one-pot catalytic cycles.
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