Good nucleophilicity of the ring nitrogen in chiral (2R, 1′ R)-2-acyl-(1′-phenylethyl) aziridines initiated the reaction with various acid chlorides to form the corresponding acylaziridinium ion intermediates whose rings were opened by the chloride anion to yield the β-amino-α-chlorocarbonyl compounds. The subsequent displacement of the chloride with the internal oxygen nucleophile originated from methylchloroformate, acetyl chloride, ...
