Aminoacids as Chiral Synthons¹: Preparation of Enantiomerically Pure (R) and (S) Malic Acids and its Application to the Synthesis of 3-Hydroxy 4-Butanolide

Abstract

Malic acid has been proved to be an extremely valuable chiral synthon for enantiospecific synthesis of complex molecules such as monensin², amphotericin B³, variou s hydroxytetrahydrofurans⁴, lactones^5,6 and pheromones⁷. However the (S) isomer only is easily available⁸; the (R) isomer is more difficult to obtain and is generally prepared by a synthetic way⁹.