A NEW APPROACH TO THE ASYMMETRIC-SYNTHESIS OF ALPHA-METHYLTRYPTOPHAN

Alpha-methyltryptophan can easily be obtained in enantiomerically pure form through diastereoselective alkylation of a chiral 2-cyanopropano ate followed by the Curtius rearrangement. Non-proteinogenic, unnatura l alpha-amino acids have attracted the attention of numerous researche rs due to the widespread use of these compounds in physical and life s cience. Many synthetic methodologies have already been developed to ob tain a wide range of optically active alpha-amino acids.1