Synthesis of substituted gamma-lactams through petasis-type addition of boronic acids to N-acyliminium lons

Substituted g -lactams are important heterocyclic motifs found in various biologically active compounds and marketed drugs, such as glimepiride, doxapram, and levetiracetam. Among available m ethods for the synthesis of substituted g -lactams, the addition of nucleophiles to N -acyliminium ions remains the most widely utilized appro ach. Even though hydroxylactams are important precursors of cyclic N -acyliminium ions, few approaches for their synthesis hav e been reported so far. By implementing a reductive cyc lization reaction, linear L -malic acid derivatives were rapidly converted into cycl ic N -acyliminium ions. Under the optimized conditions, entail ing the use of HFIP as solvent, both electron-rich and electron -deficient boronic acids were successfully added to a ran ge of cyclic N -acyliminium ions, thereby obtaining a collection of phar maceutically relevant substituted g -lactams.