Diastereoselectivity in the Staudinger reaction: a useful probe for investigation of nonthermal microwave effects

The effect of microwave irradiation on the selectivity, especially stereoselectivity, is one of the most important issues in microwave-assisted organic reactions. The diastereoselectivity in Staudinger reactions involving the representative ketenes and the corresponding matched imines has been used as a probe to investigate carefully the existence of the specific nonthermal microwave effects. The results indicate that the microwave irradiation-controlled stereoselectivity in the Staudinger reaction is in fact the contribution of temperature. No specific nonthermal microwave effect was found in the Staudinger reaction.