Irradiation of a tryptamine linked through its side-chain nitrogen to an alkylidene malonate residue results in an intramolecular [2 + 2] cycloaddition to the indole 2,3-double bond. The resultant cyclobutane undergoes spontaneous retro-Mannich fission to produce a spiro[indoline-3,3-pyrrolenine] with relative configuration defined by the orientation of substituents in the transient...
Effective methods for the enantiopure formation of substituted piperidine rings are significantly important due to their presence in alkaloid products. A valuable method to form these ring systems would be via an intramolecular heteroatom Michael addition from the corresponding enone or enal. Described herein is a methodolgy that has been...