An improved procedure for the palladium-catalyzed oxidative carbonylation of β-amino alcohols to oxazolidin-2-ones

A highly efficient oxidative cyclocarbonylation of beta-amino alcohols and 2-aminophenol to oxazolidin-2-ones has been achieved by using PdI2 in conjunction with KI as the catalytic system in DME under relatively mild conditions (100 degreesC and 20 atm of a 4:1 mixture of CO and air).