Water → N-(4-hydroxymethyl-2-nitrophenylmethyl)acetamide

Participants

Reaction Steps

A solution of methyl 4-acetamidomethyl-3-nitrobenzoate (20 g) and lithium borohydride (1.7 g) in tetrahydrofuran (200 ml) was stirred at 40-50° C. for 2.5 hr. The reaction mixture was poured into water (150 ml) and extracted with ethylacetate (100 ml×3). The extract was washed with saturated brine and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. The solvent was evaporated to give a yellow oil (15.5 g). The obtained yellow oil was purified by silica gel column chromatography (developing solvent; chloroform:methanol=9:1) to give a pale-brown solid (13.5 g). The obtained solid was crystallized from ethyl acetate/ethanol/hexane (30:2:5) to give the title compound (12 g) as yellow white crystals.

Provenance & Evidence