T
here are relatively few
met
hods for t
he catalytic asy
mmetric synt
hesis of
mages/gifc
hars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="
middle">-lacta
ms, and t
hose t
hat
have been reported are generally cis selective. T
his co
mmunication describes t
he first catalytic enantioselective Staudinger reactions t
hat preferentially furnis
h trans
mages/gifc
hars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="
middle">-lacta
ms (trans = relations
hip of P
h to R
1). T
he key to t
his
met
hod is t
he use of an
N-triflyl protecting group for t
he i
mine. Along wit
h serving as interesting targets in t
heir own rig
ht,
N-triflyl
mages/gifc
hars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="
middle">-lacta
ms readily react wit
h nucleop
hiles to generate useful fa
milies of co
mpounds, suc
h as
mages/gifc
hars/ga
mma.gif" BORDER=0 >-a
mino alco
hols and
mages/gifc
hars/beta2.gif" BORDER=0 ALIGN="
middle">-a
mino acids.