LiAlH4 reduction of tert-butyl (S)-butyl(1-((2-cycloheptylethyl)amino)-1-oxo-3-phenylpropan-2-yl)carbamate (1) gave imidazolidine 2, while treatment with lithium diisopropylamide furnished the β-elimination product, cinnamamide 3. Both products were fully characterized. Reductive cyclization of N-alkylated-N-Boc-protected amino acid amides with LiAlH4 may be a viable synthetic method for trisubstituted chiral imidazolidines.
Schweiger et al. (Thu,) studied this question.