Herstellung enantiomerenreiner cis- oder trans-konfigurierter 2-(tert-Butyl)-3-methylimidazolidin-4-one aus den Aminosäuren (S)-Alanin, (S)-Phenylalanin, (R)-Phenylglycin, (S)-Methionin und (S)-Valin

Preparation of the Enantiomerically Pure cis- and trans-Configurated 2-(tert-Butyl)-3-methylimidazolidin-4-ones from the Amino Acids (S)-Alanine, (S)-Phenylalanine, (R)-Phenylglycine, (S)-Methionine, and (S)-Valine In contrast to α-hydroxy and α-mercapto carboxylic acids, simple α-amino acids do not form acetal-type derivatives ( 2 , X = NH) with pivalaldehyde. For the generation of amino-acid-derived chiral, nonracemic enolates (cf. 3 ), and hence, for the α-alkylation of amino acids without racemization and without an external chiral auxiliary, the imidazolidinones 12–14 were prepared diastereoselectively. To this end, the methyl or ethyl esters of amino-acid hydrochlorides were first converted to N-methylamides of amino acids which in turn were condensed with pivalaldehyde to give (neopentylidenamino)amides ( 11 ). These Schiff bases could be cyclized either to trans-or to cis-imidazolidinones ( 12, 14 and 13 , respectively), which were obtained in enantiomerically pure form after recrystallization. The enantiomeric purities were confirmed by HPLC with chiral stationary phases or by ¹H-NMR spectroscopy in the presence of chiral shift reagents. The configurations (cis, trans) were assigned by NOE measurements on 300- or 360-MHz ¹H-NMR spectrometers.