The transformation of acyclic allylic benzamides 4 and homoallylic benzamides 12 to vinyl oxazolines
3 is achieved in the presence of base by the catalysis of Pd(0) in high yield and with high
diastereoselectivity. Especially, in the case of homoallylic benzamides 12, trans-oxazolines 3 are
formed exclusively or predominantly over cis-oxazolines 8, irrespective of the composition of their
stereoisomers. The reaction is believed to proceed via the same π-allylpalladium complex that arises
from either primary or secondary allylic acetates. We applied this method to the syntheses of
β-amino-α-hydroxy acids 1 and γ-amino-β-hydroxy acids 2, conveniently protected as oxazoline.