Oxaziridine derivatives were first reported in the mid-1950s by Emmons and subsequently by Krimm and Horner and Jürgens. Whereas oxygen and nitrogen typically act as nucleophiles due to their high electronegativity, oxaziridines allow for electrophilic transfer of both heteroatoms. This unusual reactivity is due to the presence of the highly strained three membered ring and the relatively weak N-O bond. Nucleophiles tend to attack at the aziridine nitrogen when the nitrogen substituent is small (R= H), and at the oxygen atom when the nitrogen substituent has greater steric bulk. The unusual electronics of the oxaziridine system may be exploited to perform a number of oxygen and nitrogen transfer reactions including, but not limited to: α-hydroxylation of enolates, epoxidation of alkenes, selective oxidation of sulfides and selenides, amination of N-nucleophiles and N-acylamidation.
The peroxide process for the industrial production of hydrazine through the oxidation of ammonia with hydrogen peroxide in the presence of ketones was developed in the early 1970s.
Chiral camphorsulfonyloxaziridines proved useful in the syntheses of complex products, such as taxol which is marketed as a chemotherapy agent. Both the Holton Taxol total synthesis and the Wender Taxol total synthesis feature asymmetric α-hydroxylation with camphorsulfonyloxaziridine.