Isothiocyanates, amino functionalization using

Related methods may be used to introduce amino functions. For example, thiocyanate 237, made from the 4,6-dimesylate, rearranges to the isothiocyanate 238,225 and 3,4-unsaturated 2-cyanates, easily made in situ from the corresponding carbamates, afford the A-bonded 4-isocyanates of the 2-enes.229 From both types of rearranged products aminodeoxy sugars may be accessed, and in this way perosamine peracetate (239) can be synthesized from the cyanate of a 3,4-unsaturated 2-ol, which is thermally rearranged prior to dihydroxylation and acetylation.229... 

Stereoselective syntheses of several unnatural amino acids were required to initiate this work. Evans group used asymmetric reactions of chiral enolates to generate these starting materials, as illustrated in the diagram shown below. In this particular example, an isothiocyanate functionality traps the alcohol of an aldol product giving a thiooxazolidinone that provides O- and N-protection in subsequent steps. 

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