Palladium-Catalyzed Synthesis of Chiral Lactams from Racemic Lactones

Significance

The palladium-catalyzed conversion of racemic lactones into enantioenriched lactams can be accomplished by the decarboxylation of lactones and subsequent asymmetric reaction with aryl isocyanates. The use of alkyl isocyanates gives azaspiroheptanones instead of the expected lactams. The lactam products can be further converted into piperidine-based amino­alcohols by a reduction reaction.