Dimethyl Sulfoxide → Ethyl nitroacetate

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Reaction Steps

To a 100 ml three-neck round bottom flask, equipped with an addition funnel, a thermometer and a condenser topped with a nitrogen gas inlet tube, was added 20 ml of dimethylsulfoxide, 0.196 g (0.00815 mole) sodium hydride and then 0.5 g (0.00815 mole) of nitromethane was added dropwise at ambient temperature to give a slurry. 1.6 ml (0.0163 mole) of ethyl cyanoformate was then added dropwise forming a homogeneous solution and was then stirred for 2 hours at ambient temperature. The solution was made acidic by adding 30 ml of 1 Normal acetic acid with stirring. The product was extracted with ethyl acetate and dried over magnesium sulfate. Ethyl nitroacetate was formed in 83% yield as determined by gas chromatography.

Provenance & Evidence