C. Palomo, J. M. Aizpurua, I. Ganboa and M. Oiarbide Pages 1837 - 1872 ( 36 )
In the last two decades, the better understanding of the mechanistic aspects of the β-lactams biological activity and their inhibition, and the chemical exploitation of β-lactams as synthetic intermediates in organic chemistry, have experienced a continuous and somewhat complementary advance. A prerequisite for such a development has been the accessibility of enantiopure β-lactams. The latter are now routinely prepared most often through the ketene-imine cycloaddition reaction, also termed the Staudinger reaction. This review accounts for the recent progress made in the asymmetric synthesis of β-lactams (with special emphasis in the Staudinger reaction approach), as well as in their use as synthetic intermediates en route to natural products, including α- and β-amino acids and peptides derived therefrom.
lactams,amino acids,peptides,imines,staudinger reaction,asymmetric synthesis
, , , Departamento de Quimica Organica I, Facultad de Quimica, Universidad del Pais Vasco, Apdo.1072, 20080 San Sebastian, Spain