A general route which provides direct access to pyroglutamates from tetramates, making use of Suzuki coupling on an enol mesylate, followed by reduction, is reported. This work permits direct scaffold hopping from tetramate to substituted pyroglutamates. Some compounds in the library showed modest antibacterial activity against Gram-positive bacteria. _______________________________________________________________________________4a 1.4:1 86 80 75 4b 1.0:1 88 67 73 4c 2.5:1 71 66 75 4d 1.5:1

No abstract

Bicyclic lactams may be prepared from serine or cysteine and 2-methylpropanal; the resulting S,N-heterocycles are more stable than the corresponding O,N-heterocycles but both are synthetic intermediates capable of further elaboration.