Asymmetric Ring‐Opening of Epoxides and Aziridines with Carbon Nucleophiles

Abstract

Abstract Three‐membered heterocyclic rings offer a powerful combination of reactivity, stability, availability, and atom economy. While heteroatom‐based nucleophiles have been successfully employed, the use of carbon‐centered nucleophiles is much less developed, yet represents a significant advance since it builds the basic carbon framework. In fact, the asymmetric ring‐opening of epoxides and aziridines with carbon‐based nucleophiles, as will be discussed in this Microreview, offers the possibility of generating valuable, chiral, nonracemic building blocks in a very simple, stereodefined manner. (© Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)