Synthesis of N β -Substituted α,β-Diamino Acids via Stereoselective N -Michael Additions to a Chiral Bicyclic Dehydroalanine.

The highly diastereoselective 1,4-conjugate additions of several nitrogen nucleophiles to chiral bicyclic dehydroalanines have been assessed effectively at room temperature in good to excellent yields without needing any catalyst or additional base. This methodology is general, simple, oxygen and moisture tolerant, high-yielding, totally chemo- and stereoselective. This procedure offers an efficient and practical approach for the synthesis of N-beta-substituted alpha,beta-diamino acids, such as 1-isohistidine, tau-histidinoalanine, beta-benzylaminoalanine, beta-(piperidin-1-yl)alanine, beta-(azepan-1-yl)alanine, and fluorescent and ciprofloxacin-containing amino acid derivatives.