Acetonitrile → [1-(4-Cyanobenzyl)-1H-imidazol-5-yl]acetic acid methyl ester

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

To a solution of the product from Step B (8.00 g, 20.9 mmol) in acetonitrile (70 mL) was added 4-cyanobenzyl bromide (4.10 g, 20.92 mmol) and heated at 55° C. for 3 hours. The reaction was cooled to room temperature and the resulting imidazolium salt was collected by filtration. The filtrate was heated at 55° C. for 18 hours. The reaction mixture was cooled to room temperature and evaporated in vacuo. To the residue was added EtOAc (70 mL) and the resulting precipitate collected by filtration. The precipitated imidazolium salts were combined, suspended in methanol (100 mL) and heated to reflux for 30 minutes. After this time, the solvent was removed in vacuo. The resulting residue was suspended in EtOAc (75 mL) and the solid isolated by filtration and washed with EtOAc. The solid was treated with sat. aq. NaHCO3 solution (300 mL) and CH2Cl2 (300 mL) and stirred at room temperature for 2 hours. The organic layer was separated, dried, (MgSO4) and evaporated in vacuo to afford the title compound as a white solid.

Provenance & Evidence