(2,3-Dimethoxyphenyl)-[1-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)ethyl]piperidin-4-yl]methanol → (+)-alpha-(2,3-Dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(2-(4-fluorophenyl)ethyl)-4-piperidinemethanol

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

To a solution of α-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)ethyl]-4-piperidinemethanol, butyrate ester (5a) (2.77 g, 6.2 mmol) in t-BuOMe (10 mL), Baker silica (8.3 g, 40 μ) was added. After evaporation of the ether, the silica was transferred to 180 mL of 0.1M phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) and then 25 mL of the partially purified lipase (100 g crude=230 mL of a solution) was added. The suspension was stirred at 45° C. for 4 days. The reaction was stopped by filtering the reaction mixture. Both filtrate and silica were extracted with ethyl acetate (300 mL). The organic layer was dried over MgSO4, evaporated under vacuum to give a residue, which was purified by column chromatography (60 g Baker silica (40 μ); EtOAc/heptane=3:1). (Rf0.45 for (S)-α-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)ethyl]-4-piperidinemethanol, butyrate ester (5b) and 0.06 for (R)-α-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)ethyl]-4-piperidinemethanol (3)). After the ester was eluted, the eluant was changed to MeOH/EtOAc=3:7 to recover (R)-α-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)ethyl]-4-piperidinemethanol (3) as a yellow oil (1.08 g, 46%, 98% ee). Recrystallization twice from EtOAc/heptane gave (R)-α-(2,3-dimethoxyphenyl)-1-[2-(4-fluorophenyl)ethyl]-4-piperidinemethanol (3) as a white crystalline compound (770 mg, 33%, 99% ee); m.p.=114-116° C.; [α]D=14.3 (c=1; CHCl3).

Provenance & Evidence