Different hydrogen-bonded chains in the crystal structures of three alkyl N-[(E)-1-(2-benzyl-idene-1-methyl-hydrazin-yl)-3-hy-droxy-1-oxopropan-2-yl]carbamates.

The crystal structures of three methyl-ated hydrazine carbamate derivatives prepared by multi-step syntheses from l-serine are presented, namely benzyl N-{(E)-1-[2-(4-cyanobenzylidene)-1-methylhydrazinyl]-3-hydroxy-1-oxopro-pan-2-yl}carbamate, C20H20N4O4, tert-butyl N-{(E)-1-[2-(4-cyanobenzylidene)-1-methylhydrazinyl]-3-hydroxy-1-oxopropan-2-yl}carbamate, C17H22N4O4, and tert-butyl N-[(E)-1-(2-benzylidene-1-methylhydrazinyl)-3-hydroxy-1-oxopro-pan-2-yl]carbamate, C16H23N3O4. One of them shows that an unexpected racemization has occurred during the mild-condition methyl-ation reaction. In each crystal structure, the mol-ecules are linked into chains by O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, but with significant differences between them.