Benzaldehyde → Ethyl 2-benzyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-1-carboxylate

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Reaction Steps

In an ice bath, sodium triacetoxyborohydride (6.11 g) was added to a solution of ethyl 1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-1-carboxylate hydrochloride (4.98 g) and benzaldehyde (2.72 g) in acetic acid (50 mL). The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 15 hours. A 1 M aqueous NaOH solution was added to the reaction liquid which was then extracted with chloroform. The extract was washed with water and saturated brine, dried over magnesium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. The resulting residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography (hexane-EtOAc) to obtain ethyl 2-benzyl-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline-1-carboxylate (1.99 g).

Provenance & Evidence