Reactions of Acid Chlorides/Ketenes with 2‐Substituted 4,5‐Dihydro‐4,4‐dimethyl‐1,3‐thiazoles: Formation of Penam Derivatives

Addition reactions of acid chlorides with various 2‐substituted 4,5‐dihydro‐4,4‐dimethyl‐5‐(methylsulfanyl)‐1,3‐thiazoles under basic conditions were studied. Two kinds of products were obtained from these additions, β‐lactams and non‐β‐lactam adducts. When the reaction was carried out with 4,5‐dihydro‐1,3‐thiazoles with a Ph substituent at C(2), the reaction proceeded via formal [2+2] cycloaddition and led to the correspoding β‐lactam. On the other hand, acid chlorides and 4,5‐dihydro‐1,3‐thiazoles bearing an α‐H‐atom at the C(2)‐substituent underwent C(α)‐ and/or N‐addition reactions and furnished non‐β‐lactam adducts, i.e., C(α)‐ and/or N‐acylated 1,3‐thiazolidines. The attempted transformations of sulfonyl esters of exo‐6‐hydroxy penams to endo‐6‐azido penams failed, although they were successful with mono‐β‐lactams under the same conditions.