Access to (S)-2-Methyloxetane and the Precursor (S)-1,3-Butanediol of Hight Enantiomeric Purity

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/jo00141a009

(S)-2-Methyloxetane (1) and its precursor (S)-1,3-butanediol (2) were prepared in low to moderate chemical yield with less than 0.5percent racemization from (S)-ethyl lactate (4) and from (2S,3S)-allothreonine (14b).For the first time the enantiomeric purities of both the starting material and the product (1) were carefully determined by high-precision capillary gas chromatography on optically active resolving stationary phases.The validity of the quadrant rule, correlating the relative configuration of alkyloxiranes with the order of elution from manganese(II) bis<(1R)-3-(heptafluorobutyryl)camphorate> (3) by complexation gas chromatography, is also confirmed for 2-methyloxetane (1).