A Convenient Synthesis and Resolution of R- and S- Atrolactic Acid in High Enantiomeric Purity

Abstract

Although chiral atrolactic acid has been the subject of extensive studies by Prelog¹ and others,² there is no simple method to obtain either enantiomer in high purity. During the course of an investigation designed to assess the utility of chiral oxazolines³ as vehicles for asymmetric syntheses, we encountered an efficient technique to obtain either R or S atrolactic acid 4 from a single chiral precursor.