Water → Ethyl 1-benzyl-5-methyl-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylate

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Reaction Steps

Part A: To a magnetically stirred suspension of ethyl 4-methyl-1H-imidazole-5-carboxylate (15.42 gram, 0.100 mol) in anhydrous THF was slowly added sodium hydride (NaH) (4.88 g of a 60% suspension, 0.120 mol) and the resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes. Benzyl bromide (13.8 ml, 0.120 mol) was slowly added and the resulting mixture was reacted for 16 hours. Water was added to the mixture. The organic layer was separated from the water layer. The water layer was extracted 3 times with ethylacetate. The organic layer was dried over MgSO4, filtered and thoroughly concentrated to give an oil. The resulting residue was purified (in order to separate the two formed regioisomers) by flash chromatography (diethyl ether/ethyl acetate gradient) to give ethyl N-benzyl-5-methyl-1H-imidazole-4-carboxylate (11.4 gram, 47% yield). 1H-NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): 1.40 (t, J=7, 3H), 2.45 (s, 3H), 4.37 (q, J=7, 2H), 5.10 (s, 2H), 7.03-7.08 (m, 2H), 7.28-7.38 (m, 3H), 7.48 (s, 1H).

Provenance & Evidence