摘要:
                                Two diastereomeric reductive amination reagents, 1a and 1b, were synthesized.  Each reagent was condensed with ethyl pyruvate as a model alpha-keto acid.  Flash vacuum pyrolysis of the pyruvate adducts, 10a and 10b, results in cheleotropic elimination of CO, followed by a new type of retro-aza-ene reaction.  A molecule of benzene and a protected alanine derivative, 11, are produced in the retro-ene reaction.  This sequence constitutes the first formal reductive amination of an alpha-keto acid via a thermal rearrangement.  Diastereomer 10b undergoes the rearrangement more readily than diastereomer 10a, indicating that an exo transition state is preferred over an endo transition state for this particular retro-aza-ene reaction.