The influence of chiral auxiliaries and catalysts on the selectivity of intramolecular conjugate additions of pyrrole to N-tethered Michael acceptors.

A series of pyrroles incorporating N-tethered acrylates and related groups has been prepared and examined for their capacity to undergo intramolecular Michael addition reactions to form, in a diastereo- or enantio-selective fashion, the corresponding 8-substituted tetrahydroindolizidine or homologues thereof.