Ribosomal protein synthesis is an important target in antibacterial drug discovery. Numerous natural products have served as starting points for the development of antibiotics. We report here the total synthesis of xenocoumacin 1, a natural product that binds to 16S ribosomal RNA at a highly conserved region, as well as analogues thereof. Preliminary structure–activity relationship studies were aimed
40°C of the β-ketoester, obtained from Boc-Orn (Z)-OH and ethyl lithioacetate, provides exclusively ethyl (2R,3S)-3-tert-butyloxycarbonylamino-2-piperidineacetic acid which when suitably protected, can be used for peptide synthesis.