Synthetic route to a spirocyclic amide I have a task to come up with a synthesis of the following molecule (2-azaspiro[5.5]undecan-3-one), but no starting materials have been explicitly specified:



This is my idea. I think that all the steps shown are quite reasonable.Do you have any critics/suggestion?
I think this can be done in 2 steps though I can't find a literature example.


Alkylate the anion of the commercially available cyclohexane carbonitrile (cyclohexyl cyanide) with ethyl acrylate.
Hydrogenate the resulting cyano-ester over Pt to reduce the -CN to -CH2NH2 which with spontaneously cyclise to give the required product.