Syntheses of optically active tetrahydro-1H-pyrrolo[1,2-a]imidazol-2-ones and hexahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2(3H)-ones

The reactions of (2S)-2-amino-2-substituted-N-(4-nitrophenyl)acetamides 16a-c, succindialdehyde (13), and benzotriazole afforded enantiopure (3S,5R,7aR)-5-(1H-1,2,3-benzotriazol-1-yl)-3-substituted-1-(4-nitrophenyl)tetrahydro-1H-pyrrolo[1,2-a]imidazol-2-ones 17a-c, which were converted by sodium borohydride into (3S,7aR)-3-substituted-1-(4-nitrophenyl)tetrahydro-1H-pyrrolo[1,2-a]imidazol-2-ones 18a-c. Chiral (2S)-2-amino-2-substituted-N-(4-methylphenyl)acetamides 12a-d, easily prepared in two steps from N-Boc-alpha-amino acids 10a-d, similarly reacted with glutaraldehyde (20) and benzotriazole to generate 5-benzotriazolyl-3-substituted-hexahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2(3H)-ones 21a-d, which were converted by sodium borohydride directly into optically active 3-substituted-hexahydroimidazo[1,2-a]pyridin-2(3H)-ones 22a-d.