Efficient construction of functionalized 5-carboxymethyl tetramic acids using N-Ac-L-aspartic anhydride as chiral building block

A novel method for the synthesis of densely functionalized optically active 5-carboxymethyl tetramic acids is reported. The proposed strategy is focused on the synthesis of 3,3'-disubstituted pyrrolidine-2,4-diones as useful molecules for the synthesis of natural products. The proposed methodology has been established by X-ray diffraction structure analysis. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.