Extremely Stereoselective and Stereospecific Reductive Cleavage of 0-Lactams: A Highly Efficient Route to Labeled Homochiral Peptides

Besides its importance as a fundamental structure of β-lactam antibiotics, the β-lactam skeleton has been shown to be useful as a synthetic building block in organic synthesis.^1,2 In fact, we have developed a novel route to peptides through the hydrogenolysis of homochiral 4-aryl-β-lactam intermediates on Pd catalyst, i.e., the “β-lactam synthon method”,³ and successfully applied it to the synthesis of potent enkephalin analogues.