Palladium-Catalyzed N-Arylation Reactions with Aziridine and Azetidine

Studies on the viability of palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reactions of aryl- or hetaryl bromides with the parent aziridine or azetidine showed that a wide range of N-arylaziridines and N-arylazetidines are accessible by this method. Ring cleavage of the N-arylaziridines or -azetidines thus produced does not occur under the applied reaction conditions. The synthetic utility of the method is illustrated by examples of double N-arylations with either aziridine or azetidine.