An efficient thermal route to arenesulphenylnitrenes

Arenesulphenylnitrenes are generated efficiently from sulphenamides, (1), on heating at ca. 80–120 °C and are trapped by alkenes as the corresponding aziridens in quantitative yield; this approach is shown to be more efficient and more widely applicable than the oxidation of arenesulphenamides but both reactions appear to reactions appear to involve the same nitrene intermediate.