Highly enantioselective synthesis of rigid, quaternary 1,4-benzodiazepine-2,5-diones derived from proline

[reaction: see text] Proline-derived 1,4-benzodiazepine-2,5-diones are extremely useful scaffolds in medicinal chemistry. In this paper, we describe a protocol for retentive C3 alkylation of these materials, thus accomplishing the direct synthesis of enantiopure quaternary 1,4-benzodiazepine-2,5-diones. The high enantioselectivities (up to 99.5%) are attributed to memory of chirality.