Acyl ketenes formed during thermal decompositions of 5-acyl-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxa-4,6-diones undergo stereoselective [2+2] cycloaddition to chiral aldimines. We report the first example of optically active 3-acyl-β-lactams formation from Meldrum’s acid derivatives.

The stereoselective properties of modified thiourea organocatalysts were tested in the Friedel–Crafts alkylation of indole with 5-arylidene-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-4,6-diones, which produces chiral 5-((1H-indol-3-yl)(aryl)methyl)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-4,6-diones. Based on a tentative reaction mechanism for ((S)-N-benzyl-2-(3-(3,5-bis (trifluoromethyl)phenyl)thioureido)-N,3,3-trimethylbutanamide organocatalysts, modifications...

A simple, efficient two-step method for the preparation of heterobicyclic compounds was developed. Starting from 5-acyl or 5-carbamoyl-2,2- dimethyl-1,3-dioxa-4,5-dione bicyclic scaffolds of 1-azabicyclo[5.2.0]non- 3-en-9-one, 6,9,10,10a-tetrahydro-4H-[1,3]oxazino[3,2-a]azepin-4-one, and 6,9,10,10a-tetrahydro-2H-[1,3]oxazino[3,2-a]azepine-2,4(3H)-dione were prepared using cycloaddition of thermally generated ketenes to aldimines...