Cooperative Silver‐ and Base‐Catalyzed Diastereoselective Cycloaddition of Nitrones with Methylene Isocyanides: Access to 2‐Imidazolinones.

A protocol involving cooperative silver‐ and base‐catalyzed diastereoselective cycloaddition of nitrones with isocyanides is described, providing access to a wide range of 2‐imidazolinone derivatives with various functional groups as single diastereomers. Varying the base and temperature of the reaction allowed selective access to both diastereomers of the product. A plausible reaction mechanism is proposed and supported by DFT calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]