Patent ID: 7109352

Claim:
A process for producing an optically active aziridine-2-carboxylic acid derivative represented by the following formula (2): wherein R 2 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group or an aralkyl group which is capable of serving as an ester type protective group of a carboxyl group and * represents the position of an asymmetric carbon atom; or its salt, comprising: performing an intramolecular cyclization reaction on an optically active 3-haloalanine derivative represented by the following formula (1): wherein X represents a halogen atom; R 1 represents a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group or an aralkyl group which is capable of serving as an ester type protective group of a carboxyl group; and * represents the position of an asymmetric carbon atom; or its salt in the presence of a base selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal hydroxide and an alkaline earth metal hydroxide and water at a temperature of 70° C. or higher, and optionally followed by ester hydrolysis, to give said optically active aziridine-2-carboxylic acid derivative, or its salt.