Sodium Carbonate → N-(tert-Butoxycarbonyl)-3-(dimethylamino)alanine

Participants

Reaction Steps

3-Dimethylamino-2-methylamino-propan-1-ol is prepared from 4-aza-DL-leucine 2 HCl. Di-tert-butyl dicarbonate (0.65 g, 2.97 mmol) is added to a biphasic mixture of 4-aza-DL-leucine 2 HCl (0.51 g, 2.47 mmol) in 10 ml 1:1 10% Na2CO3:MeCN. After stirring 16 hours, the MeCN is removed under reduced pressure and the aqueous layer is extracted with ethyl acetate. The aqueous layer is concentrated and purified by reverse phase column chromatography on a sep-pak C18 column (water) yielding 0.19 g (31%) 2-tert-butoxycarbonylamino-3-dimethylamino-propionic acid, sodium salt. The sodium salt is suspended in THF (5 ml) and cooled to 0° C. under N2. LAH (3.8 ml of a 1.0 M solution in THF) is added and the reaction mixture warmed to rt and than to reflux. After stirring at reflux for 16 h, the reaction mixture is cooled to 0° C. and carefully quenched by the slow addition of Na2SO4.10 H2O. The reaction mixture is diluted with diethyl ether, warmed to room temperature and stirred for 30 min. The gray suspension is filtered through Celite and the filtrate concentrated to give 83 mg (82%) of 3-dimethylamino-2-methylamino-propan-1ol as an oil.

Provenance & Evidence