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Updated: Jun 13, 2025

Preparation of Contiguous Bisaziridines for Regioselective Ring-Opening Reactions
Published on: July 28, 2022
Vitamin B12 and Micellar Solution Enable Regioselective Ring Opening of Epoxides and Aziridines with Electrophilic
Kitti Franciska Szabó1, Tomasz Wdowik1, Aleksandra Krzeszewska1
1Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland.
Abstract:
Vitamin B12, a water-soluble cobalt complex, is inherently predisposed to catalyze reactions under aqueous conditions. Despite its potential, adopting this strategy for transformations of hydrophobic reagents has been challenging, because of their low aqueous solubility. Here, we demonstrate that vitamin B12 promotes the reaction of epoxides and aziridines with electrophilic olefins in a micellar system. The desired products are obtained efficiently in a fully regioselective manner. This green catalytic approach further advances the use of vitamin B12 in sustainable catalysis providing a valuable method to synthesize important intermediates.
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