The conversion of diethyl acetamidomalonate (1) to the oxazolidinones 2a, b and the ring opening with hydrogen bromide'to give the bromoethylamine hydrobromides 3a, b were the promising beginnings of the sequence (Scheme I) that eventually led to 6a, b. The initial step is the first example of C-alkylation with 3-(w-chloroalkyl)-2-oxazolidinones and complements the utility of previous examples of 0-, N-, and S-alkylations. 7 The ring-opening step was ...