Efficient synthesis of 5-(hydroxymethyl)piperazin-2-ones using automatically prepared chiral bromocarboxylic acid and Garner's aldehyde as versatile building blocks.

An efficient method for the synthesis of substituted 5-(hydroxymethyl)piperazin-2-ones was established by using an automated synthesis process. Thirteen piperazinones were synthesized from chiral α-bromocarboxylic acids and Garner's aldehyde which were prepared by using our originally developed automated synthesizer, ChemKonzert®. The automated method of synthesizing chiral α-bromocarboxylic acids was efficient and safe because the rate of the dropwise addition of the reagent can be controlled using the automated synthesizer.