Oxidative addition of N-aminophthalimide to styryl-1,2,4-oxadiazoles

The oxidation of N-aminophthalimide with lead tetraacetate in the presence of 5-[(E)-2-arylethenyl]-3-(4-methylphenyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazoles and 5-(4-methylphenyl)-3-[E)-2-phenyl-ethenyl]-1,2,4-oxadiazole led to the formation of the corresponding (3-aryl-1-phthalimidoaziridin-2-yl)-(4-methylphenyl)-1,2,4-oxadiazoles. In the reaction with 3,5-distyryl-1,2,4-oxadiazole a mixture was obtained of two regioisomeric monoadducts and a diadduct in the ratio 80 : 15: 5; at the use of 3 equiv of the aziridinating reagents only diadduct was isolated as a mixture of two diastereoisomers in the ∼3 : 2 ratio that were separated by recrystallization.