An efficient, diastereoselective [2,3]-Wittig rearrangement of alpha-a
llyloxyamide enolates has been developed using (IS,2R)-1-amino-indan-2
-ol as a chiral auxiliary. After auxiliary removal, the resultant opti
cally active alpha-hydroxy acids have been transformed to functionaliz
ed amino acid derivatives. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.