Patent ID: 7122684

Claim:
A process for preparing 1,2-diamino compounds of formula and pharmaceutically acceptable addition salts thereof wherein R 1 , R 1′ , R 2 and R 2′ , independently from each other, are H, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkyl-lower alkyl, cycloalkyl-lower alkenyl, cycloalkyl-lower alkynyl, heterocyclyl, heterocyclyl-lower alkyl, heterocyclyl-lower alkenyl, heterocyclyl-lower alkynyl, aryl, aryl-lower alkyl, aryl-lower alkenyl, or aryl-lower alkynyl, or R 1 and R 2 , R 1 and R 2′ , R 1′ and R 2′ or R 1′ and R 2′ taken together with the two carbon atoms to which they are bound, are a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring system, or R 1 and R 1′ or R 2 and R 2′ taken together with the carbon atom to which they are bound, are a carbocyclic or heterocyclic ring system, wherein at least one of R 1 , R 1′ , R 2 and R 2′ is not H, and R 3 and R 4 , are independently, a substituent of an amino group, wherein R 3 and R 4 are not both H, said process comprising the steps of: a) reacting a 1,2-epoxide of formula wherein R 1 , R 1′ , R 2 and R 2′ are as above with an amine of formula R 5 NH 2 wherein R 5 is a substituent of an amino group but not H, to form a 2-aminoalcohol of formula wherein R 1 , R 1′ , R 2 , R 2′ and R 5 are as above; b) converting the 2-aminoalcohol of formula (III) to the aziridine of formula wherein R 1 , R 1′ , R 2 , R 2′ and R 5 are as above; c) reacting the aziridine of formula (IV) with an amine of formula R 7 NHR 8 , wherein R 7 and R 8 , independently from each other, are a substituent of an amino group, to obtain a 1,2-diamino compound of formula wherein R 1 , R 1′ , R 2 , R 2′ , R 5 , R 7 and R 8 are as above; d) acylating the secondary amino group in position 1 of the 1,2-diamino compound of formula (V) to form an acylated 1,2-diamino compound of formula wherein R 1 , R 1′ , R 2 , R 2′ , R 3 , R 5 , R 7 and R 8 are as above; e) removing R 5 from the acylated 1,2-diamino compound (VI) to produce an acylated 1,2-diamino compound of formula wherein R 1 , R 1′ , R 2 , R 2′ , R 3 , R 7 and R 8 are as above; and f) deprotecting the amino group in position 2 of the 1,2-diamino compound of formula (VII) to produce the 1,2-diamino compound of formula (I).