Diastereoselective synthesis of (2S,5R)-5-hydroxypipecolic acid and 6-substituted derivatives.

[reaction: see text] Herein, we report a diastereoselective synthesis of the natural product (2S,5R)-5-hydroxypipecolic acid and 6-substituted derivatives thereof. The key step in the synthetic sequence is a novel highly diastereoselective epoxidation reaction of an enantiomerically pure cyclic enamide intermediate.