A novel strategy for the expeditious synthesis of aryl-tethered highly congested 2-hydroxybenzyl alcohols from 2-pyranones

An efficient and simple synthesis of highly congested 2-benzyloxy-3-benzyloxymethyl-5-sec-aminobiphenyl-4-carbonitriles 3a–e has been delineated through base catalyzed ring transformation of 6-aryl-4-sec-amino-2H-pyran-2-one-3-carbonitriles 1 by 1,3-bisbenzyloxypropan-2-one 2. Debenzylation of both the O-benzyl groups of 3a–e with boron trichloride provided the corresponding diols, 2-hydroxy-3-hydroxymethyl -5-sec-aminobiphenyl-4-carbonitriles 4a–e in very good yields.