Enantioselective synthesis of (2S,3′R,7′Z)-N-(3′-hydroxy-7′-tetradecenoyl)-homoserine lactone

A concise enantioselective total synthesis of (2S,3′R,7′Z)-N-(3′-hydroxy-7′-tetradecenoyl)-homoserine lactone is described. Key feature of this protocol is a catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation and a prophenol–zinc-catalyzed diazo addition to imine reaction as genesis of chirality. Moreover, flexibility is built in the synthesis to generate enantioenriched analogs using catalytic amount of enantioenriched C2-symmetric ligands.