Abstract
c-N,N-Dibenzylamino-b-hydroxysulfoxide 1 proved to be an excellent chiral building block for the synthesis of a range of 1,2-amino alcohol-containing heterocycles. Thus, 1 was converted into 4,5-disubstuted oxazolidin-2-one 4 and aminoepoxides 2 and 3. Aminoepoxide 2 proved to be an excellent precursor to access oxazolidin-2-one 5 and azetidin-3-ol 6. Finally, 2 was used as a key intermediate that allowed the development of a divergent strategy to access cis-2-methyl-6-substituted piperidin-3-ol alkaloids. (+)-Deoxocassine 7 and a C-6 ethyl analogue 8 were prepared to illustrate this approach and to demonstrate that this strategy should be adaptable to the production of other members of this alkaloid family.