1-Butanol → 2,5-Furandione, 3-(bromomethyl)-

Participants

Reaction Steps

2-(Bromomethyl)-maleic anhydride (2) is prepared from compound 1 according to the method of Laursen et al. (1971) J. Med. Chem. 14:619-621 with the modification by Greenlee and Woodward (1980) Tetrahedron 36:3367-3375. This material (2 g) is hydrolyzed in water (20 mL) for about 1 hour at room temperature to 2-(bromomethyl)-maleic acid (3) and the solution is neutralized with 1 N NaOH (21.2 mL), degassed and kept under N2. The solution is added to a previously prepared solution of 4-aminothiophenol (1.51 g) that has been dissolved in degassed 1 N NaOH (11.6 mL) with gentle heating under N2 and filtered to remove the insoluble dimer. The filtrate is diluted with degassed water (12 mL) before being added to the above solution of compound 3. The final reaction solution is brought to about pH 11.0 with 1N NaOH and stirred under N2 at room temperature overnight. The solution is then filtered to remove small amounts of bis-(4-aminophenyl)-disulfide, cooled on ice, and acidified with 1N HCl, which gives a yellow precipitate. n-Butanol is added (40 mL) and the mixture is vigorously stirred on ice for 5 minutes. This removes the fumaric acid analog of compound 4. The solid is then collected by filtration, washed successively with 0.1 N HCl and water, and finally dried in a vacuum desiccator over P2O5, to yield the neutral compound 4.

Provenance & Evidence