Patent ID: 7732605

Claim:
A method of preparing a compound of formula I: comprising reacting an acid catalyst with a compound of formula II in such a manner so as to produce the compound of formula I with an enantiomeric excess greater than about 50%: wherein: R 1 , R 2 , and R 3 are separately selected from the group consisting of hydrogen; halogen; mono-substituted, poly-substituted or unsubstituted, straight or branched chain variants of the following residues: C 1 -C 24 alkyl, C 2 -C 24 alkenyl, C 2 -C 24 alkynyl, alkoxy, acyl, arylalkyl, heteroarylalkyl, alkyloxycarbonyloxy, ester, arylalkoxy, and alkylthio; and mono-substituted, poly-substituted or unsubstituted variants of the following residues: acyloxy, aryloxycarbonyloxy, cycloalkyl, cycloalkenyl, cycloalkoxy, aryl, heteroaryl, heterocycloalkyl, carbonyl, carbonylacyl, amino, aminocarbonyl, amide, aminocarbonyloxy, nitro, azido, phenyl, hydroxyl, arylthio, oxysulfonyl, carboxy, and cyano; R 4 and R 5 are separately selected from the group consisting of hydrogen; mono -substituted, poly-substituted or unsubstituted, straight or branched chain variants of the following residues: C 1-6 alkyl, C 2-6 alkenyl, C 2-6 alkynyl, C 2-6 heteroalkyl, C 2-6 aminoalkyl, C 2-6 haloalkyl, C 1-6 alkoxycarbonyl, aryl-C 1-6 -alkyl, and C 2-6 hydroxyalkyl; and mono-substituted, poly-substituted and unsubstituted variants of the following residues: C 3-8 cycloalkyl, —C(O)—C 5-6 aryl substituted with C 1-3 alkyl or halo, C 5-6 aryl, C 5-6 heteroaryl, C 5-6 cycloalkyl, and C 5-6 heterocycloalkyl; any bond represented by a dashed and solid line represents a bond selected from the group consisting of a single bond and a double bond; and any carbon-carbon double bond has a configuration selected from the group consisting of cis and trans.