Thionyl Chloride–Mediated Synthesis of tert-Butyl ((S)-1-((R)-Oxiran-2-yl)-2-phenylethyl)carbamate with Boc-Involved Neighboring Group Participation

A convenient, high-yielding preparation of tert-butyl ((S)-1-((R)-oxiran-2-yl)-2-phenylethyl)carbamate is described. An efficient chiral inversion as the key step is furnished via Boc-involved neighboring group participation mediated by thionyl chloride. This preparation has significant advantages over the previously reported methods with respect to simplicity, cost efficiency, yield, and purification procedure as well as industry reliability.