As a basic study for synthesis of bottromycin, the syntheses and the reactions of iminodipeptides were investigated. Nine N-benzyloxycarbonyl (Z) iminodipeptides were prepared by the condensation of ethyl Z-amino carboximidates with amino acids according to the method of Ried et al. All the imidates were prepared from the corresponding nitriles, and ethyl NZ-2-pyrrolidinecarboximidate (IIIf) was also successfully obtained from Z- ...