New uses of amino acids as chiral building blocks in organic synthesis

[GRAPHICS] N,N-Dibenzylamino aldehydes have emerged as a highly useful class of chiral building blocks in synthetic organic chemistry. We envisioned the transfor mation of the N,N-dibenzylamino aldehydes to the corresponding aldimines fo llowed by diastereoselective methylene transfer with a sulfonium ylide to o btain alpha -amino aziridines in high yields.