L-Serine → Ethyl 2-cyanomethyl-2-phenylmethylpropanoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

The reaction of ethyl 2-phenylmethylpropanoate (9.60 g, 50 mmol) with bromoacetonitrile (9.0 g, 75 mmol) in the presence of lithium diisopropylamide (prepared by treating diisopropylamine (6.06 g, 60 mmol) with butyllithium in hexanes (2.5M, 24 mL, 60 mmol)) in THF (150 mL) and HMPA (4.3 mL, 25 mmol), as described above in the preparation of Example 4, gave 11.95 g of the crude product as a pale yellow colored liquid. Ethyl 2-phenylmethylpropanoate was prepared as in Spencer R W, Tam T F, Thomas E, Robinson V J, Krantz A (1986) "Ynenol lactones: Synthesis and investigation of reactions relevant to their inactivation of serine proteases" J. Am. Chem. Soc., 108, 5589-5597. Flash chromatography over silica gel (hexanes-CH2Cl2, 3:2) afforded 7.86 g (68%) of the nitrile as a colorless viscous liquid. Analytical sample was prepared by bulb-to-bulb distillation (pot temp. 110°-115° C. (0.9 mmHg)).

Provenance & Evidence