High Asymmetric Induction in Lewis Acid-Promoted Intramolecular Ene-Type Reactions: A diastereo- and enantioselective synthesis of (+)-α-allokainic acid. Preliminary Communication

The monocyclic amino diacid (+)-α-allokainic acid 1 has been prepared enantioselectively from the ester of cis-β-chloroacrylic acid and (?)-8-phenylmenthol by a series of four synthetic operations in over 15% yield. The crucial step is the intramolecular ‘ene-type’ reaction of the (Z)-diene 4 which on treatment with a mild Lewis acid undergoes a highly accelerated, dia- and enantiostereoselective cyclization to give the pyrrolidines 6 and 7 in a ratio of 95:5 (Scheme 3). Subsequent ester hydrolysis regenerates the auxiliary chiral alcohol. Similar cyclization of the (E)-diene 5 furnished a 15:85 mixture of 6 and 7 showing an efficient reversal of the optical induction by variation of the enoate geometry.     

Vergleichende Untersuchung von Reaktivitäten und Ionenstrukturen beim monomolekularen Abbau isomerer Hydroxyzimtsäuremethylester unter Elektronenbeschuss

Comparative investigation of reactivities and ion structures upon electron impact induced degradations of the isomeric hydroxy cinnamic acid methyl esters By analysis of energy release data in metastable peaks it is shown that m- and p-hydroxy cinnamic acid methylesters retain specific structural features upon degradation under electron impact, although their spectra are very similar and the shapes of the metastable peaks due to the initial methoxy cleavage are identical. A pronounced charge radical localization in the molecular ion is indicated. The o-isomer is found to yield a coumarin type structure by elimination of methanol, whose further degradation by decarbonylation involves at least three different mechanisms. The resulting ion structures are different from benzofuran.