A Single-Step Synthesis of Azetidine-3-Amines

The azetidine group is frequently encountered within contemporary medicinal chemistry where it is viewed as a privileged structure. However, the introduction of an azetidine can be synthetically challenging. Herein, a straight-forward one step synthesis of azetidine-3-amines, starting from a bench stable, commercial material is presented. The reaction tolerates functional groups commonly encountered in biological-, medicinal- and agro-chemistry, and proceeds in moderate-to-high yield with secondary amines, and moderate-to-low yield with primary amines. The methodology compares favorably to recent alternative procedures and can be utilized in “any-stage” functionalization, including late-stage azetidinylation of approved drugs and other compounds with pharmacological activity.