Triethylamine → Benzyl 3-hydroxyazetidine-1-carboxylate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a solution of azetidin-3-ol hydrochloride in tetrahydrofuran (90 mL) and water (10 mL) was added triethylamine (15 mL, 0.106 mol) followed by slow addition of benzyl chloroformate (8.0 mL, 0.056 mol) at room temperature. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 16 hours then partitioned with water and ethyl acetate. The organic layer was washed with brine, dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate and concentrated. The residue was purified by flash chromatography (SiO2, 25-50% ethyl acetate in hexanes) to afford phenylmethyl 3-hydroxyazetidine-1-carboxylate (3.56 g, 33% yield) as a clear and colorless oil. 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): 7.36-7.31 (m, 5H), 5.09 (s, 2H), 4.64-4.57 (m, 1H), 4.22 (dd, 2H), 3.88 (dd, 2H), 2.61 (d, 1H, J=4.0 Hz). MS (EI) for C11H13NO3: 208 (MH+).

Provenance & Evidence