Water → (2s)-Glycidyl indol-4-yl ether

Participants

Reaction Steps

A 3.2 g portion of 4-hydroxy-1H-indole was dissolved in 31 mL of dimethylformamide in a 50 mL flask equipped with a magnetic stirrer, nitrogen bubbler and thermometer. To it was added 1.27 g of sodium methoxide and the mixture was stirred until a blue-black solution resulted. The warm mixture was placed under vacuum for 5 minutes to remove most of the resulting methanol. To the mixture was added 6 g of oxiranylmethoxysulfonyl-3-nitrobenzene, resulting in an exotherm to about 37° C. The mixture was stirred at ambient temperature for 1 hour, and was then poured into a separatory funnel containing 55 mL of methyl t-butyl ether and 80 mL of water. The mixture was shaken well, and the layers were separated. The organic layer was removed and the aqueous layer was extracted with 2×55 mL of methyl t-butyl ether. The organic layers were combined and back-extracted with 50 mL of 5% aqueous lithium chloride. The layers were separated again, and the organic layer was dried with magnesium sulfate and filtered. The organic filtrate was concentrated under vacuum to about 15 mL of volume, and was seeded with pure desired product and stirred. The product was crystallized to a thick slurry to which 20 mL of heptane was slowly added. The mixture was stirred for one hour more and filtered, and the filter cake was rinsed with 3:1 heptane:methyl t-butyl ether, and then with heptane. The product was dried in a vacuum oven at 40° C. to obtain about 3.5 g of product.

Provenance & Evidence