posted on 2001-09-22, 00:00authored byAnnamaria Esposito, Pier Paolo Piras, Daniela Ramazzotti, Maurizio Taddei
Enantiomerically pure (S)-cleonin, a key component of the antitumor antibiotic cleomycin, was prepared starting from (R)-serine. The Kulinkovich
cyclopropanation of the methyl ester of N-Cbz serine acetonide gave the hydroxycyclopropyl moiety. The amino alcohol region was further
oxidized to amino acid. The Kulinkovich cyclopropanation allowed also the preparation of other non-natural substituted cyclopropylglycines.