Application of the Sharpless AD protocol to a series of alpha-(E)-benzylide
ne-delta-lactam precursors followed by selective deoxygenation provided eff
icient synthetic routes to the chiral quaternary alpha-hydroxy-gamma-lactam
derivatives 4 and 5. These functionalized intermediates and the diol precu
rsors 3 are regarded as novel types of D-Phe-Pro dipeptide surrogates that
are useful as enzyme active site probes. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All
rights reserved.