“…Of interest is that enantioselective aldol reactions of malonic acid half thioesters with aldehydes have recently been reported. 14 An examination of more substituted systems was made, and to this end, malonamides 10a-b were prepared from the corresponding carboxylic acid 9 6 and thiazolidine 4a, by DCC coupling (Scheme 2). Aldol reaction using base (NaOMe) gave the corresponding pyroglutamates 11a-b in good yield as single diastereomers, the stereochemistry of which was assigned on the basis of the chemical shift information outlined above; thus, the H-1 geminal set showed a difference of Δ = 0.5 and 0.1 ppm, corresponding to the 7R (endo-hydroxyl) configuration, in keeping with that observed in the simpler systems, and in close correspondence to equivalent reported analogues in the serine 4,5 and threonine 6 series.…”