Nucleophile-directed selective transformation of cis-1-tosyl-2-tosyloxymethyl-3-(trifluoromethyl)aziridine into aziridines, azetidines, and benzo-fused dithianes, oxathianes, dioxanes, and (thio)morpholines.

A five-step procedure for the synthesis of cis-1-tosyl-2-tosyloxymethyl-3-(trifluoromethyl)aziridine was developed, starting from 1-ethoxy-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol, involving imination, aziridination, ester reduction, hydrogenation, and N-,O-ditosylation steps. Further synthetic elaborations revealed a remarkable difference in the reactivity of cis-1-tosyl-2-tosyloxymethyl-3-(trifluoromethyl)aziridine with respect to aromatic sulfur and oxygen nucleophiles, thus enabling the selective deployment of this versatile substrate as a building block for the synthesis of functionalized aziridines, azetidines, and benzo-fused dithianes, oxathianes, dioxanes, and (thio)morpholines.