Sodium Carbonate → methyl 3-(1,3-dioxo-1,3-dihydro-2H-isoindol-2-yl)-3-phenylpropanoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a stirred solution of 3-amino-3-phenylpropionic acid methyl ester hydrochloride (0.50 g, 2.3 mmol) and sodium carbonate (0.25 g, 2.3 mmol) in 10 mL of water was added N-carboethoxyphthalimide (0.51 g, 2.3 mmol) in 7 mL of acetonitrile. The reaction progress was monitored by TLC (ethyl acetate/hexane; 1:2) which showed that the reaction was complete in one hour. The reaction mixture was partially concentrated to remove the acetonitrile. The resulting slurry was filtered and the solid was washed with 20 mL of water. The solid was dried in vacuo (60° C., <1 mm) to afford 280 mg (39.4% ) of methyl 3-phthalimido-3-phenylpropionate as a white powder: mp 75°-76° C.; 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 250 MHz) δ 7.26-7.83 (m, 9H), 5.68-5.75 (m, 1H), 3.55 (S, 3H), 3.37-3.66 (m, 2H); 13C NMR (DMSO-d6) δ 170.7, 167.6, 138.6, 134.7, 131.0, 128.6, 127.8, 126.9, 123.3, 51.6, 49.9, 35.3. Anal. Calcd for C18H15NO4 : C, 69.89; H, 4.89; N, 4.53; Found: C, 69.69; H, 4.83; N, 4.49.

Provenance & Evidence