| Abstract: | The stereochemical course of the thermal 2‐aza‐Cope rearrangement of the optically pure acyl azide (?)‐(1S)‐ 5 was investigated by determination of the absolute configuration of the rearrangement product (1R,8S)‐ 9 . The reaction proceeds by a sequence of stereospecific steps from 5 to an equilibrating mixture of exo‐ and endo‐isocyanates 6 and 7 . The endo‐isomer 7 undergoes Cope rearrangement to the putative intermediate 8 , which is trapped and characterized as the adduct 9b of butan‐1‐ol. The absolute configuration of 9b was determined by its reduction to the amide 20 , and determination of the X‐ray structure of the N‐camphanoylamide 21 derived from camphanic acid of known absolute configuration. |
