Expeditious and practical synthesis of various substituted taurines from amino alcohols

Various substituted taurines have been synthesized expeditiously and practically in satisfactory to good yields directly from amino alcohols using a two-step, one-pot procedure, in which the amino alcohols undergo sulfuric acid esterification and subsequent sodium sulfite substitution. Treatment of amino-substituted secondary alcohols using the same procedure gave 2-substituted or 1,2-disubstituted taurines, indicating the formation of aziridines as intermediates during the substitution step. This method is one of the most efficient routes for preparing structurally diverse 2-substituted and 1,2- and 2,2-disubstituted taurines.