Readily available starting materials aliphatic, Table

This method for preparing 2-phenyl-1-pyrroline, and assorted 2-substituted 1-pyrrolines, is one of the best currently available, particularly because it reproducibly affords clean materials. Generally, the procedure is amenable to various aromatic esters 2 it has also been applied successfully to aliphatic esters (Table I).3 An advantage of this method is the use of readily available, inexpensive N-vinyl-pyrrolidin-2-one as a key starting material. This compound serves effectively as a 3-aminopropyl carbanion equivalent. The method illustrated in this procedure has been extended to include the synthesis of 2,3-disubstituted pyrrolines. Thus, alkylation of the enolate of the intermediate keto lactam, followed by hydrolysis, leads to various disubstituted pyrrolines in good yields (see Table II).3... 

Table 11.1 Some readily available aliphatic starting materials... 

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