Formaldehyde → 2,5-Dibenzyltetrahydropyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,3(2H,3aH)-dione

Participants

Reaction Steps

A mixture of paraformaldehyde (3.37 g), N-benzylmaleimide (2.80 g) and N-benzylglycine hydrochloride (3.02 g) in toluene (100 mL) was heated to reflux with azeotropic removal of water for 16 hours. The mixture was cooled to room temperature, filtered and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was purified by flash chromatography (20% EtOAc/hexane) to afford the title compound 1 as a low melting white solid (3.60 g, 75%). LCMS: Rf: 2.616 min, M+H+: 321.

Provenance & Evidence