One-pot facile conversion of Baylis–Hillman adduct into N-alkyl 3-(E)-alkylidene-5-substituted sulfonylpiperidine-2,6-dione. Formal synthesis of tacamonine

A stepwise [3+3] strategy to N-alkyl 3-(E)-alkylidene-5-substituted sulfonylpiperidine-2,6-dione 1 used various N-alkyl α-substituted sulfonylacetamides 2 and α,β-unsaturated esters 3 as starting materials. α,β-Unsaturated esters 3 were generated by Baylis–Hillman reaction. A ring closure mechanism was proposed for the reactions. This method provides a convenient formal synthesis of tacamonine.