Tert-Butylamine → Bupropion

Participants

Reaction Steps

Crude 2-bromo-1-(3-chlorophenyl)propan-1-one (2) (152 g, 0.65 mol) was dissolved in 600 ml of acetonitrile (HPLC grade) in a 3-necked 2 L round bottomed flask fitted with a condenser and a dropping funnel. Tert-butylamine (172.5 ml, 1.63 mol) was added drop wise to the resulting mixture, at room temperature and under nitrogen. The reaction mixture was then heated to reflux for approximately 5 hours. During this time the reaction progress was monitored by TLC analysis (silica, hexane: ethyl acetate, 90:10). On consumption of the starting material, the reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature, filtered through celite and the celite washed with approximately 250 ml of ethyl acetate. The filtrate was washed with a 2M solution of KOH (350 ml). The layers were separated and the organic phase was dried over sodium sulphate anhydrous, filtered and concentrated to dryness to give a pale orange oil (147 g, quantitative yield), which did not need any further purification.

Provenance & Evidence