Dynamic Kinetic Resolution of β-Azido Alcohols. An Efficient Route to Chiral Aziridines and β-Amino Alcohols

Abstract
Enzymatic resolution of β-azido alcohols in combination with ruthenium-catalyzed alcohol isomerization led to a successful dynamic kinetic resolution. A variety of racemic β-azido alcohols were efficiently transformed to the corresponding enantiomerically pure acetates (ee up to 99% and conversion up to 98%). The synthetic utility of this procedure has been illustrated by the practical synthesis of (S)-propanolol I and (R)-β-azido-α-(4-methoxyphenyl)ethanol ((R)-1c), a direct precursor of denopamine II.
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