utility as intermediates in organic chemistry (eg, for the generation of α-amino acids [2] and
of hydantoins [3]),[4] only limited progress has been described with regard to the
enantioselective synthesis of this family of heterocycles.[5] One attractive, convergent
approach to the formation of aza-β-lactams is the [2+ 2] cycloaddition of a ketene with an azo
compound [Eq.(1)].[6] To the best of our knowledge, no stereoselective variants of this …