This short review summarizes recent advances relating to the application of ring-closing olefin-olefin and carbonyl-olefin metathesis reactions towards the synthesis of unsaturated five- and six-membered nitrogen heterocycles. These developments include catalyst modifications and reaction designs that will enable access to more complex nitrogen heterocycles.1 Introduction2 Expansion of Ring-Closing Metathesis Methods3 Evaluation of Catalyst Design4 Indenylidene Catalysts5 Unsymmetrical N-Heterocyclic Carbene Ligands6 Carbonyl-Olefin Metathesis7 Conclusions

Herein, we describe the development of a synthetic strategy towards chiral 3-pyrrolines based on the design principle of iron(III)-catalyzed carbonyl-olefin metathesis. This approach takes advantage of commercially available amino acids as chiral pool reagents and FeCl3 as a Lewis acid catalyst. Our strategy is characterized by its operational simplicity, mild reaction conditions and functional group tolerance. Investigations show that an electron-deficient nitrogen protecting group overcomes limitations arising from competitive binding of the Lewis acid catalyst to unfavorable Lewis basic sites, which ultimately enables catalytic turnover.

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Herein we describe the application of Lewis-acidcatalyzed carbonyl−olefin metathesis toward the synthesis of substituted tetrahydropyridines from commercially available amino acids as chiral pool reagents. This strategy relies on FeCl 3 as an inexpensive and environmentally benign catalyst and enables access to a variety of substituted tetrahydropyridines under mild reaction conditions. The reaction proceeds with complete stereoretention and is viable for a variety of natural and unnatural amino acids to provide the corresponding tetrahydropyridines in up to 99% yield.Letter pubs.acs.org/OrgLett