A general, efficient and environmentally friendly procedure for the synthesis of 2,5-piperazinediones is described, involving the microwave irradiation of N-Boc dipeptide esters.
Microwave irradiation allows the efficient, solvent-free transformation of N-Boc dipeptide esters into 2,5-piperazinediones. The microwave-assisted conditions were found to be much better than traditional heating in terms of reaction time, yield and stereo- center integrity.