Potassium Hydroxide → 1-(2-methoxy-4-nitrophenyl)-4-methyl-1H-imidazole

Participants

Reaction Steps

A solution of 2-chloro-5-nitroanisol (187 mg, 1 mmol), of 4-methylimidazol (335 mg, 4 mmol) and of potassium hydroxide (99 mg, 1.5 mmol) in DMSO (0.86 mL) was stirred for 5 hours at 80° under an atmosphere of nitrogen. After cooling to room temperature the reaction was poured onto ice/water. A precipitation was formed and the suspension was stirred for 15 minutes. The solid was filtered off, washed with water, dissolved in dichloromethane, dried over sodium sulfate, filtered and the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure to yield a yellow solid. The crude product was purified on silica gel using dichloromethane/methanol (19:1 v/v) as eluent to yield the title compound (106 mg, 45%) as a pale-yellow solid. Alternatively the product can be also crystallized from the crude material from diethyl ether. MS ISP (m/e): 234.3 (100) [(M+H)+]. 1H NMR (CDCl3, 300 MHz): δ (ppm)=7.97 (d, 1H), 7.96 (s, 1H), 7.83 (s, 1H), 7.42 (d, 1H), 7.00 (s, 1H), 4.00 (s, 3H), 2.31 (s, 3H).

Provenance & Evidence