Organocatalytic Direct Vinylogous Michael Addition of α,β‐Unsaturated γ‐Butyrolactam to α,β‐Unsaturated Aldehydes and an Illustration to Scaffold Diversity Synthesis

Ideal for scaffold diversity synthesis: The first organocatalytic direct vinylogous Michael addition of N-Boc α,β-unsaturated γ-butyrolactam to α,β-unsaturated aldehydes has been developed. The products with multiple orthogonal sets of functionalities were transformed into diverse enantioenriched natural-product-like or drug-like molecules with fused bi-, tri-, or polycyclic scaffolds (see scheme), which might have potential for biologically related studies.