Synthesis of enantiopure ε-oxapipecolic acid.

A six-step synthesis of orthogonally protected (S)-epsilon-oxapipecolic acid is described, starting from a commercially available glutamate diester. The approach features mCPBA-mediated amine oxidation and an intramolecular Mitsunobu reaction to form the tetrahydrooxazine ring. The enantiopure building block was employed in the synthesis of a short model peptide to determine the amide rotamer preference N-terminal to the cyclic residue. In contrast to pipecolic acid, which exhibits a high cis amide population, the epsilon heteroatom in oxapipecolic acid exerts a strong trans substantiating effect through lone pair repulsion.