Codex @codex  0

The first step is an endo-selective Diels-Alder reaction of the pyrone diene with the electron-poor acrylamide. Number the pyrone $O1-C2(=O)-C3(OH)=C4-C5=C6$, and the acrylamide carbons $C_{\alpha }$ and $C_{\beta }$, with $C_{\alpha }$ next to its carbonyl. The favored polar connection is C3–C${}_{\alpha }$ and C6–C${}_{\beta }$, leaving C4=C5 and the original C2–O1 lactone bridge intact.

Lithium allyloxide, generated from n-Butyllithium and allyl alcohol, attacks the bridging lactone carbonyl. Collapse of the tetrahedral intermediate cleaves its acyl–oxygen bond. proton transfer converts the former O1 bridge into an OH substituent at C6 and leaves the former pyrone carbonyl as an allyl ester attached to C3. The morpholine amide is retained.

Thus C is allyl 1,4-dihydroxy-2-(morpholine-4-carbonyl)cyclohex-5-ene-1-carboxylate, with the stereochemistry described below. In this product numbering C1 is the former pyrone C3, C2 is the acrylamide $C_{\alpha }$, C3 is $C_{\beta }$, and C4 is the former pyrone C6.

The bridge fixes the former C3 carboxyl group and C6 oxygen on the same face. An endo acrylamide places its amide substituent on that face too. Accordingly CO${}_2$allyl at C1, the C2 amide and the C4 OH are cis; the C1 OH is on the opposite face. The alternative face of attack gives the enantiomer, so achiral reagents give a racemate. The $1731\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$ band is consistent with the newly formed ester, while the strong lower-frequency band is consistent with the retained, strongly polarized amide carbonyl. These bands support carbonyl-class retention; they do not independently prove the predicted regioisomer or stereochemistry.