Diastereoselectivity of polar and radical couplings in electrophilic substitutions of rigid 2-lithio-N-methylpyrrolidines.

N-Methyl trans-fused perhydroisoindolines substituted with a tributylstannyl group in the 2-position have been prepared and used as precursors of the corresponding alpha-aminoorganolithiums. The steric course of the reactions of these and other conformationally rigid organolithiums with various electrophiles is summarized and compared with the steric course of the unsubstituted analogs. A mechanistic rationale for the steric course of electrophilic substitutions of these organolithiums is discussed.

Conversion of five-, six-, and seven-membered lactams to racemic or scalemic 2-substituted heterocycles by amidoalkylation.

An efficient method for the synthesis of 2-alkyl- and 2-aryl pyrrolidines, piperidines, and azepanes from lactams, in either racemic or enantiopure form, is presented. The lactam nitrogens are acylated with either Boc anhydride or trans-cumylcyclohexyl (TCC) chloroformate. Selective reduction of the lactam carbonyl to the carbinolamide is followed by treatment with benzotriazole.