Hot water favors the opening of epoxides and aziridines by water and other nucleophiles.

Zhi Wang, Yong-Tao Cui, Zhao-Bing Xu and Jin Qu*
*The State Key Laboratory of Element-Organic Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, People's Republic of China, Email: qujinnankai.edu.cn

Z. Whang, Y.-T. Cui, Z.-B. Xu, J. Qu, J. Org. Chem., 2008, 73, 2270-2274.

Effective hydrolysis of epoxides and aziridines were performed with water between 60 and 100°C. Other nucleophiles such as amines, sodium azide, and thiophenol open epoxides and aziridines in hot water. Hot water acts as a weak acid catalyst, reagent, and solvent in these hydrolysis reactions.