Synthesis of chiral butenolides using amino-thiocarbamate-catalyzed asymmetric bromolactonization

The asymmetric cyclization of 4,4-disubstituted 3-butenoic acids is studied. Amino-thiocarbamates are used as the catalysts and N-bromosuccinimide is used as the stoichiometric halogen source. The resulting γ-butanolide products are readily converted into the corresponding γ-butenolides (up to 58% ee) derivatives in one-pot.