Aspects of the literature of the ant venom alkaloid monomorine I and its stereoisomers
were reviewed.
Racemic 5-butyl-2-pyrrolidinone was synthesised in two steps from methyl acrylate and
1-nitropentane, A thionation step yielded 5-butylpyrrolidine-2-thione. The Michael
addition reaction between 5-butylpyrrolidine-2-thione and ethyl crotonate proceeded with
difficulty to form a separable mixture of diastereomers of 5-butyl-l-(2-ethoxycarbonyl-l-methylethyl)
pyrrolidine-2-thione. [Abbreviated Abstract. Open document to view full version]
