Manganese-Promoted Regioselective Ring-Opening of 2,3-Epoxy Acid Derivatives: A New Route to α-Hydroxy Acid Derivatives.

A simple and general methodology directed towards the synthesis 3-aryl-2-hydroxy amides, or esters with total regioselectivity from the easily available 2,3-epoxy amides or esters, promoted by active manganese is described. Utilizing enantiopure epoxy amides as starting materials, the corresponding 3-aryl-2-hydroxy amides in enantiopure form are also available. Some synthetic applications of selected examples of 3-aryl-2-hydroxy carboxylic acid derivatives are shown. A mechanism has been proposed to explain this novel reaction.