The mechanism of chorismate mutase, the enzyme which catalyzes the Claisen arrangement of chorismic to prephenic acid, remains a fascinating area for bioorganic research. This paper describes the enantioselective synthesis of phosphonochorismic acids 3 and 4, two potential mechanism-based mutase inactivators, utilizing new transition-metal- catalyzed insertion reactions of tetraalkyl diazophosphonates. Models establish that such ...
