A facile and efficient carbocatalytic route to quaternary C-bearing N-tosylaziridines from Morita-Baylis-Hillman adduct in water

Graphene oxide (GO)/GO-I-2 co-catalyzed green synthesis of tosylaziridine bearing keto and nitrile/ester functional groups is reported. The strategy involves sequential GO-catalyzed oxidation of benzylic alcohol and GO-I-2 catalyzed nitrene insertion into olefin of Morita-Baylis-Hillman adduct. Operational simplicity, use of water as solvent, ambient reaction conditions, excellent yield of products (88-96%) and recyclability of catalyst up to five times without any substantial change in morphology as well as catalytic efficiency are the salient features of the envisaged protocol. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.