an r glycidylester is employed the product will be an s 5 hydroxymethyloxazolidinone and likewise if an s glycidylester is employed the product will be an r 5 hydroxymethyloxazolidinone step 3 is conducted in a suitable solvent such as ether or tetrahydrofuran and is generally conducted at a temperature between u2212 100 u00b0 c and 50 u00b0 c for a time necessary for complete reaction to occur in a preferred embodiment of this reaction a solution of n butyl lithium is added to a solution of the aryl or heteroaryl amine at u2212 78 u00b0 c then the glycidyl ester is added and the resulting mixture allowed to warm to room temperature until the reaction is judged to be complete the product is then isolated from the reaction mixture by standard techniques and if necessary the product may be purified in step 4 of scheme i the 5 hydroxymethyloxazolidinone is converted to a 5 aminomethyloxazolidinone in a three step process first the hydroxy group is activated by conversion to a leaving group x this is generally accomplished by acylation with acylating agents such as methanesulfonyl chloride p toluenesulfonyl chloride or the like generally with the addition of a hindered base such as triethylamine diisoproproylethyl amine or the like to scavenge the acid produced in the reaction suitable solvents include but are not limited to ether tetrahydrofuran chlorinated hydrocarbons such as methylene chloride or dichloroethane pyridine collidine or dioxane in a second step the leaving group is displaced with sodium azide in.