Highly enantioselective organocatalytic cascade reaction for the synthesis of piperidines and oxazolidines

The synthesis of piperidines and piperidines derivatives in enantiopure fashion has been a challenging goal for organic chemists. In this report we developed a nice cascade reaction for piperidine derivatives based in an amidomalonate Michael addition to enals followed by an intramolecular hemiaminal formation with good yields and enantioselectivities. Moreover we studied the 'in situ' intramolecular cyclization of this hemiaminals with alcohols forming fused piperidine-oxazolidines. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.