Formaldehyde → tert-Butyl (3aR*,9bR)-2,3,3a,4,5,5a,9a,9b-octahydro-1H-pyrrolo[3,2-c]quinoline-1-carboxylate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Sodium (1.2 g, 50 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (15 ml), aniline (0.9 g, 10 mmol) was added at room temperature, and the mixture was stirred for 10 min. This mixture was added to a suspension of paraformaldehyde (0.42 g, 14 mmol) in methanol (10 ml), and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 5 hrs. The reaction mixture was poured into ice water, and the mixture was extracted with diethyl ether. The extract was dried (over anhydrous MgSO4), and the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure. The residue was dissolved in methanol (20 ml), tert-butyl 2,3-dihydro-1H-pyrrole-1-carboxylate (850 mg, 5 mmol) was added and the mixture was heated under reflux for 18 hrs. The residue was subjected to column chromatography using silica gel (30 g) and eluted with hexane-ethyl acetate (9:1-4:1, v/v) to give the title compound (180 mg, 12%) as an amorphous form.

Provenance & Evidence