Acetic Acid → Ethyl 3-(methylamino)-3-phenylacrylate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Acetic acid (44.7 mL, 780 mmol) was added to a solution of ethyl benzoylacetate (30 g, 156 mmol) and methyl amine (2M in THF, 390 mL, 780 mmol) in EtOH (150 mL). The reaction mixture was heated to reflux and stirred for 15 h. The reaction mixture was concentrated and partitioned between DCM and 1M HCl. The layers were separated, and the organic layer was dried over Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated to give the title compound (32 g, 99% yield) which was used with no further purification.

Provenance & Evidence