A chemoenzymatic approach to the synthesis of the stereoisomers of a beta-adrenergic receptor antagonist

The four stereoisomers of Δ2-isoxazoline 2, a β-adrenergic receptor antagonist structurally related to Falintolol 1, were prepared by an enzyme-catalyzed kinetic resolution of the unsaturated secondary alcohol (±)-7 followed by its cycloaddition to pyruvonitrile oxide. Through this strategy, diastereomeric aminoalcohols (+)-2a/(-)-2b and (-)-2a/(+)-2b were obtained in 99 and 92% enantiomeric excess, respectively. The absolute configuration to the target compounds was assigned via chemical correlation to the enantiomers of epoxides 4a and 4b, whose stereochemistry had been previously established. Copyright (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd.