Sodium Hydroxide → alpha-(3,4-Dimethoxyphenyl)-1,3-dihydro-5,6-dimethoxy-alpha-[(4-methylphenyl)thio]-2H-isoindole-2-heptanenitrile

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Reaction Steps

To a solution of 3.03 g of α-(5-aminopentyl)-3,4-dimethoxy-α-[(4-methylphenyl)thio]benzeneacetonitrile, 1.85 g of 1,2-bis(chloromethyl)-3,4-dimethoxybenzene, 20 mL of toluene, and 0.22 g of tetrabutylammonium chloride, is added water containing 2 g of sodium hydroxide. The mixture is stirred for 48 hours. Upon adjusting the pH of the aqueous layer to pH 9 with solid sodium bicarbonate, the layers are separated and the aqueous layer further extracted with chloroform. After drying the combined organic extracts over sodium sulfate, they are passed through a pad of hydrous magnesium silicate, and concentrated in vacuo to a brown gum. This gum is purified by HPLC using a reverse phase C-18 radial-pak column (6 cm.×30 cm.) with a buffered solvent system (150 mL ammonium hydroxide in water adjusted to a pH 4.00 with acetic acid, then diluted to 7,875 mL with water; 5700 mL of acetonitrile and 1425 mL of methyl alcohol are added). After solvent removal, 0.85 g of the desired product is obtained as a yellow oil.

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