Unusually large reactivity differences in the transformation of cyclopropane lactones to 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐phosphonic acids and their carboxylic acid analogues

Starting from a cyclopropane lactone 5 , the synthesis of a 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐phosphonic acid derivative 11 is described. The considerable differences in the reactivity of the lactone ring opening in the case of a cyclopropane lactone substituted by a phosphonic acid ester 5 and their carboxylic acid ester analogue 2 toward ammonia or amines have been compared and interpreted by using the map of electrostatic potentials. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 12:90–96, 2001