An enantioselective approach to functionalized amino acids: total synthesis of antiepileptic drug (R)-lacosamide.

A short and highly efficient synthetic approach to enantiopure functionalized amino acids (FAAs) 1 skeleton from racemic butadiene monoepoxide as a starting material and its application to the total synthesis of an antiepileptic drug (R)-lacosamide 2 are described. The synthesis utilizes the palladium catalyzed Trost's Dynamic Kinetic Asymmetric Transformation (DYKAT) as key step.