New regiocontrolled synthesis of functionalized pyrroles from 2-azetidinone-tethered allenols.

A new one-pot approach to synthesize densely substituted racemic and enantiopure pyrroles from beta-lactams has been developed. The approach relies on the regiocontrolled cyclization of beta-allenamine intermediates derived from the ring opening of 2-azetidinone-tethered allenols. In this approach four points of diversity are introduced, one of which is the position of the allene moiety on the beta-lactam ring.