5,6-Dihydro-2-hydroxy-6-methyl-2,3-diphenyl-2H-1,4-oxazine 1, derived from benzil and (±)-2-amino-1-methylethanol, reacts with phenoxyacetyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine to give a single isomer of a 4,4′-disubstituted azetidin-2-one 2, whose structure has been unambiguously confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis.
