wow uh my brain is a bit too fried still to process it. hope that passes. curious looking reaction, achieving substitution of an acrylylmethyl unit (so, H2C=CH-(C=O)-CH2- group) to the alpha carbon of an amino acid (protected as its N-tert-butoxycarbonyl amide and O-tert-butyl ester, whew. gotta love sticking those big t-butyls on things to keep other things away
the alpha-carbon is brominated with N-bromosuccinimide, _photochemically_, in chlorobenzene? free-radical mechanism? wild
then the O-trimethylsilylether of vinyl methyl ketone is coupled via dichlorodiethoxytitanium. mm, tasty. probably fumes like heck, reacts with air... yeah they're doing this under nitrogen. dry ice temperature in THF (blech)
kinda dull. practical I suppose.
oh well can't win 'em all. maybe I just like the shiny stuff too much