New cyclic zwitterionic building blocks for the synthesis of piperidine-2,4-dione and pyridine-2-one compounds

In this Letter we describe the synthesis of new chiral cyclic zwitterionic pyridin-2-one compounds 5a,b via an intramolecular ring-closure reaction of a stabilize amide sulfur ylide 4a,b derived from (R)-(−)-2-phenylglycinol and (R)-(+)-phenylethylamine in a high yield. In addition, we proved the utility of 5a,b to produce piperidine-2,4-dione 6a,b and pyridine-2-one 7a,b depending on the reaction conditions.