Formaldehyde → 2-(4-Bromophenyl)-1-methylpyrrolidine

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a suspension of 2-(4-bromophenyl)pyrrolidine hydrogen chloride (200 mg, 0.76 mmol) in anhydrous MeOH (5 mL) was added formaldehyde (114 mg, 3.80 mmol) under N2. The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 h under N2. After 2 h, NaBH(OAc)3 (242 mg, 1.14 mmol) was added and the mixture was stirred at room temperature under N2 overnight. Additional formaldehyde (2 mL) and NaBH(OAc)3 (242 mg, 1.14 mmol) were then added and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 5 hrs. The reaction was concentrated and water was added (20 mL) with dichloromethane (8 mL). The layers were separated and the water was extracted with dichloromethane (8 mL×3). The organic layers were combined, washed with brine, dried over sodium sulfate, and concentrated to afford the title compound (0.203 g, quantitative yield) which was used without further purification. 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 7.51 (d, 2H), 7.28 (d, 2H), 3.15-3.10 (t, 1 H), 3.04-3.00 (t, 1 H), 2.22-2.18 (q, 1H), 2.13-2.09 (m, 1H), 2.05 (s, 3H), 1.80-1.65 (m, 2H), 1.53-1.50 (m, 1H).

Provenance & Evidence