Efficient methods for the synthesis of chiral 2‐oxazolidinones as pharmaceutical building blocks

AbstractAlthough the wide variety of heterocyclic compounds is common knowledge, chiral 2‐oxazolidinones are recognized as some of the most important heterocycles in medicinal chemistry. Many important pharmaceutical molecules have been constructed based on the chiral 2‐oxazolidinone backbone. Therefore, the development of even more efficient catalytic methods for the synthesis of chiral 2‐oxazolidinones remains a very important pursuit in the field of synthetic organic chemistry. This review summarizes the coupling reactions of epoxides and isocyanates for the preparation of 2‐oxazolidinones. Both metal catalysts and organocatalysts promote these reactions. Optically pure 2‐oxazolidinones are prepared from optically pure epoxide substrates via these catalytic methods. A synthetic example of a commercially available pharmaceutical compound utilizing this method is also introduced.