First synthesis of bi- and tricyclic α,β-unsaturated δ-oxacaprolactams from cyclic imines via ring-closing metathesis

A new class of alpha,beta-unsaturated delta-oxacaprolactams was synthesized from imines as starting material. The synthetic procedure is based on an acyl chloride addition in the first step, followed by a ring-closing metathesis using a ruthenium catalyst. ((c) Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2008).