Mf. Aly et al., NON-DECARBOXYLATIVE 1,3-DIPOLAR CYCLOADDITIONS OF IMINES OF ALPHA-AMINO-ACIDS AS A ROUTE TO PROLINE DERIVATIVES, Tetrahedron, 50(10), 1994, pp. 3159-3168
alpha-Amino acids react with aryl aldehydes in the presence of N-subst
ituted maleimides to yield stereospecific cycloadducts (3a,b) with dim
ethyl fumarate to give isometric mixtures of (4a-i) and (5a-i). The re
latively low yield in the case of dimethyl fumarate is presumably due
to the steric interaction between the dipolarophile and the substituen
ts at both ends of the dipole.