Modular 2,3-diaryl-2H-azirine synthesis from ketoxime acetates via Cs2CO3-mediated cyclization

A modular 2H-azirine synthesis from ketoxime acetates via Cs2CO3-mediated cyclization has been developed. The reaction utilizes easily available starting materials and provides a general synthetic route to 2,3-diaryl-2H-azirines in good to excellent yields under mild conditions, which is complementary to the conventional approaches for the synthesis of 2H-azirines. A gram-scale reaction was performed to demonstrate the scale-up applicability of this synthetic method. Importantly, 2H-azirines can be efficiently converted to various azaheterocycles.