Hydride-Transfer Domino Rearrangement of Glycine-Containing Dioxa-azawurtzitane

The novel synthetic method for dioxa-azawurtzitanes to selectively cap amino groups in amino acids or peptides is described. Mixing the CH(3)CN solution of cis,cis-1,3,5-triformyl-1,3,5-trimethylcyclohexane (2) with the aqueous solution of the equimolar amounts of glycine and NaHCO(3) yields glycine-containing dioxa-azawurtzitane 7-Na. Dioxa-azawurtzitane 7-Na almost quantitatively isomerizes to lactone-imine 9-Na through the hydride-transfer rearrangement in CH(3)CN/H(2)O. Lactone-imine 9-Na also isomerizes to lactam-aldehyde 12-Na in DMSO.