"One-pot" methylation of N-Nosyl-alpha-amino acid methyl esters with diazomethane and their coupling to prepare N-methyl dipeptides.

N-Nosyl-alpha-amino acid methyl esters are methylated quantitatively with diazomethane. After proper deprotection of the amino function by treatment with the reagent system mercaptoacetic acid/sodium methoxide, the obtained N-methyl amino acid methyl esters are coupled with N-Fmoc amino acid chlorides to afford the corresponding dipeptides. The obtained products do not show any detectable extent of racemization by (1)H NMR and HPLC.