Acetic Acid → Ethyl 1-phenyl-1H-1,2,3-triazole-4-carboxylate

Oxalyl chloride (4.7 g, 30.1 mL, 37.0 mmol) was added to a cold (0-4° C.) solution of DMF (2.25 g, 2.4 mL, 30.8 mmol) in CHCl3 (20 mL) and stirring was continued for 10 minutes. The reaction mixture was heated at 40° C. for 10 minutes and cooled to −10° C. Diazoacetic acid ethyl ester (3.5 g, 3.5 mL, 30.6 mmol) was then added and stirred at room temperature for 1 hr. The reaction mixture was concentrated ether was then added, the precipite was collected and dissolved in 10% aq Hac (10 mL) and stirring was continued for 1 hr. The reaction mixture was extracted with ether, washed with saturated sodium bicarbonate solution and brine. The organic phase was dried over Na2SO4 and concentrated under reduced pressure to afford 590 mg (21% Yield) of 2-diazo-3-oxo-propionic acid ethyl ester. 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3): δ 9.7 (s, 1H), 4.4 (q, 2H), 1.4 (t, 3H). Aniline (143 mg, 1.5 mmol) was added to a solution of 2-diazo-3-oxo-propionic acid ethyl ester (200 mg, 1.4 mmol) and HOAc (0.2 mL) in EtOH (0.5 mL) and stirring was at room temperature overnight. The reaction mixture was concentrated and cold water was then added, the solid was collected to afford 264 mg (87.41% Yield) of 1-phenyl-1H-[1,2,3]triazole-4-carboxylic acid ethyl ester. 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3): δ 8.5 (s, 1H), 7.8 (d, 2H), 7.6-7.48 (m, 3H), 4.5 (q, 2H), 1.4 (t, 3H). LiOH.H2O (80 mg, 1.9 mmol) was added to a stirred solution of 1-phenyl-1H-[1,2,3]triazole-4-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (130 mg, 0.6 mmol) in THF:H2O (1:1, 4 mL), and the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 45 min. The reaction mixture was concentrated under reduced pressure. Cold water was then added and it was acidified with 10% aqueous HCl, the solid was collected to afford 40 mg (35.4% yield) of 1-phenyl-1H-[1,2,3]triazole-4-carboxylic acid. 1H NMR (300 MHz, DMSO-d6): δ 13.4 (bs, 1H), 9.4 (s, 1H), 8.0 (d, 2H), 7.7 (t, 2H), 7.6 (t, 1H).