Selective hydrogenation of indolizines: an expeditious approach to derive tetrahydroindolizines and indolizidines from morita-baylis-hillman adducts.

In this study, we describe the hydrogenation of indolizines derived from Morita-Baylis-Hillman adducts. We demonstrate that functionalized tetrahydroindolizines and indolizidines can be prepared selectively, at low pressure, by simply adjusting the acidity of the medium. Using this simple and straightforward strategy, substituted tetrahydroindolizines and indolizidines were obtained diastereoselectively in high yield.