Organocatalyzed nucleophilic addition of pyrazoles to 2H-azirines: asymmetric synthesis of 3,3-disubstituted aziridines and kinetic resolution of racemic 2H-azirines

The first organocatalytic asymmetric nucleophilic addition of arylpyrazoles to 2H-azirines and kinetic resolution of racemic 2H-azirines have been realized. Chiral aziridines were obtained with up to 98% yields and up to 99.9% ee. Meanwhile, simply changing the ratio of reactants, optically active 2H-azirines were recovered in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities.