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Unsaturated keto-lactams undergo sequential conjugate reduction-aldol cyclization on treatment with SmI 2 to give syn-spirocyclic pyrrolidinones and piperidinones containing vicinal, fully substituted stereocenters with complete diastereocontrol. The substituent on nitrogen and the lactam ring size have a marked impact on the efficiency of the spirocyclization.
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Guazzelli et al. (2008) studied this question.
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