Acetic Acid → Ethyl 3-(benzylamino)butanoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a solution of 3-amino-butyric acid ethyl ester (5.00 g, 34.3 mmol), benzaldehyde (4.1 mL, 40 mmol) and acetic acid (1.9 mL, 34 mmol) in 1,2-dichloroethane (120 mL) was added sodium triacetoxyborohydride (17 g, 80 mmol) at room temperature and the mixture was stirred for 20 hours. The reaction mixture was poured into sodium bicarbonate saturated aqueous solution and extracted with chloroform. The organic phase was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated. The resulting residue was purified by flash column chromatography on silica gel (chloroform/methanol=10/1 as an eluant) to afford 3-benzylamino-butyric acid ethyl ester (2.1 g, 9.5 mmol, 28%) as colorless oil.

Provenance & Evidence