Independent Research Proposal
Saturated aza-heterocycles are of great importance due to their abundance in bioactive molecules, natural products, and pharmaceuticals. The size of these rings can drastically alter their shape and binding properties. Ring expansion is a desirable strategy for medicinal chemists as it allows for conversion to analogues of varying ring sizes without the need for resynthesis. Sulfonium ylides and sulfilimines are well studied intermediates in organic chemistry. Sulfonium ylides have been used to accomplish cyclizations to form valuable epoxides, aziridines, and cyclopropanes. Sulfilimines have been shown to behave as nitrene transfer reagents to achieve azaarene syntheses. Using sulfonium ylides and sulfilimines in a ring expansion strategy to gain access to valuable saturated N-heterocycles would be highly desirable.
