of the alkylation can be determined, either 'H-NMR spectroscopically at the stage of the alkylation product (6) or polarimetrically or NMR spectroscopically with chiral shift reagents at the stage of the a-methyl-a-aminocarboxylate (7) or a-methyl-a-amino acid.We obtained 3,6-dihydropyrazine (3) by reaction of cyclo-(L-Ala-L-Ala) (2)I2I with trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate. This reaction proceeds without racemization. The lithiation of (3) to (4) can be smoothly performed at -70 "C (in tetrahydrofuran) with butyllithium or lithium diisopropylamide (LDA). Double metalation at C-3, which would lead to an antiaromatic 8 T electron system, does not take place[31. The alkylation products (6) are hydrolyzable with 0.5 N hydrochloric acid even at room temperature. The esters ( I ) and (7) can be separated, for instance, by distillation.In the alkylation (4) + (6), the R-configuration is induced at C-6, i. e. the alkyl moiety prefers the trans-position to the methyl group at C-3. For example, (R)-( -)-a-methylphenylalanine['"I is obtained from (6a) via the ester (7a). In (6a) the R-configuration at C-6 is recognizable in the 'H-NMR spectrum: 3-H absorbs at relatively high field strengths (6=3.17) because it is situated in the shielding anisotropic region of the phenyl group, which probably lies in a .rr-complex fashion over the hetero~ycle[~l. We attribute the high asymmetric induction to the fact that one of the two diastereotopic sides of the probably planar anion of (4) is relatively strongly shielded by the methyl group.
Experimental(2): After washing with ether, the crude product obtained according to is ca. 90% optically pure. Crystallization twice from water yielded almost optically pure (2); [ a J g = 26.4" (c=1.3, H20); after drying in a vacuum over P205, m.p. 289 "C.(3): A mixture of (2) (14.2 g, 0.1 mol) in anhydrous CH2C12 (300 ml) and trimethyloxonium tetrafluoroborate was vigorously stirred or shaken for 34 h at room temperature15]. A buffer solution, consisting of NaH2P04 (40.0 g, 0.3 mol) and Na2HP04 (113.7 g, 0.8 mol) in 500 ml water, was added to the ice-cold mixture, the organic phase was separated off and the aqueous phase extracted three times with CH2C12. The combined extracts were dried over MgSO, and then evaporated to dryness at 10 torr; yield 14.9 g (88%) of almost optically pure (3), b.p. Alkylation of (3) to (6): A solution of butyllithium (10 mmol, 6.4 ml of a 1.55 N solution in hexane) (or 10 mmol lithium diisopropylamide in a little THF) is cooled to -70 "C and then added dropwise to a solution of (3) (1.7 g, 10 mmol) in anhydrous T H F (20 ml) at -70 "C. The mixture is stirred for 10 min at this temperature, treated with a solution of (5) (10 mmol) in THF (10 mmol) and stirring continued for 2-10 h. The mixture is allowed to warm to room temperature, the solvent removed at 10 torr, the residue treated with 10 ml water (and if necessary 5 g common salt), extracted three times with 30 ml of ether or CH2C12, the extracts combined, dried over MgSO, and worked-up in the usual way. Diastereo...