Water → methyl (2S)-3-phenyl-2-(phenylmethoxycarbonylamino)propanoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a solution of N-benzyloxycarbonyl-DL-phenylalanine (155 g, 0.518 mol) in DMF (800 mL) were added mortar-pulverized potassium hydrogencarbonate (104 g, 1.04 mol) and methyl iodide (53 mL, 0.86 mol), and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 5 hours. This reaction mixture was added to water (1800 mL) and extracted with ethyl acetate-hexane (4:1). The extract was washed successively with 2 portions of water (500 mL each), 5% sodium sulfite aqueous solution (500 ml) and saturated brine and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure to give 164 g (100%) of N-benzyloxycarbonyl-DL-phenylalanine methyl ester as a colorless clear oil.

Provenance & Evidence