Mild Intramolecular Ring Opening of Oxetanes

Oxetanes have been increasingly used as stable motifs in medicinal chemistry as well as versatile synthetic intermediates. Herein, an intramolecular ring opening of oxetane carboxamides with mild nucleophiles, such as nitrogen heterocycles, is presented. The reaction proceeds under metal-free basic conditions which is highly unusual in ring opening reactions of oxetanes. Amide formation and oxetane ring opening/cyclization in a one-pot approach affords high levels of molecular complexity in a single step from simple, readily available substrates.