Chiral Lewis acid catalyzed asymmetric cycloadditions of carbonyl ylides generated from diazoimide derivatives and their synthetic applications to indolizidine alkaloids.

Highly enantioselective 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reactions, catalyzed by chiral Lewis acids, between several 3-(2-alkenoyl)-2-oxazolidinones and carbonyl ylides that were generated from N-diazoacetyl lactams are described. Reactions of N-diazoacetyl lactams that possess 5-, 6-, and 7-membered rings were transformed to the corresponding epoxy-bridged indolizidines, quinolizidines, and 1-azabicyclo[5.4.0]undecanes with good to high enantioselectivities. Regio- and stereoselective ring-opening of the epoxy-bridged indolizidine cycloadduct gave the corresponding alcohol as a single diastereomer. The sequence of asymmetric cycloaddition followed by ring-opening was applied to the syntheses of several chiral indolizidine derivatives, including (+)-tashiromine.