Acetic Acid → N-(4-tert-Butylbenzyl)-N-(4-chlorobenzyl)amine

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a solution of 4-tert-butylbenzaldehyde (3.24 g, 20.0 mmol) and 4-chlorobenzylamine (2.43 mL, 20.0 mmol) in methanol (100 mL) were added acetic acid (4.6 mL, 80 mmol) and sodium cyanoborohydride (1.51 g, 24.0 mmol) and the reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature overnight. Water (10 mL) was added and the mixture was concentrated in vacuo. The residue was taken up in ethyl acetate (50 mL) and aqueous 1 M KOH (50 mL) and the phases were separated. The aqueous phase was extracted with ethyl acetate (2×50 mL) and the combined organic phase was dried over Na2SO4, and concentrated in vacuo. Purification on a prepacked column of silica gel (Isolute® SPE Column, 70 g/150 mL) with ethyl acetate (33-100% gradient) in heptane as the eluent yielded 4.31 g (75%) of white solids.

Provenance & Evidence