Sodium borohydride → 4-(4-(2-Methyl-2-aminopropyl)phenoxy)phenol

Participants

Reaction Steps

A mixture of NiCl2.6H2O (1.40 g, 5.9 mmol) in MeOH (100 mL) was stirred at RT under a nitrogen atmosphere. Sodium borohydride (0.675 g, 17.9 mmol) was carefully added to the mixture in small portions. Twenty minutes after complete addition of the initial sodium borohydride 4-(4-(2-methyl-2-nitropropyl)phenoxy)phenol (3.20 g, 11 mmol) was added followed by the careful portionwise addition of more NaBH4 (1.58 g, 42 mmol) which caused a frothing exothermic reaction. All starting nitro compound had been consumed within 15 minutes of the last hydride addition as judged by TLC analysis. The mixture was then filtered through Celite and the filtrate concentrated in vacuo. The resulting residue was chromatographed over silica gel (MeOH/CHCl3) which allowed for isolation of both the incompletely reduced hydroxylamine product (0.675 g, 22%) and the desired amine product (0.94 g, 34%). MS (FD+): 258 (amine)

Provenance & Evidence