Hydrogen Bromide → 5-Bromoisoquinoline

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

5-Aminoisoquinoline (5.0 g, 34.7 mmol) was mixed with 48% aqueous HBr (65 mL) at −78° C. for 15 min. Sodium nitrite (3.1 g, 45 mmol) in water (6 mL) was then added dropwise. After stirring for 15 min at −78° C., the mixture was warmed to 0° C. Copper powder (0.3 g) was added very slowly to avoid excessive foaming. After addition was completed, the reaction vessel was fitted with a reflux condensor and the mixture was heated to 100° C. for 4 h. The mixture was poured onto ice (ca. 200 g) and was made basic (pH=10) with KOH. The aqueous mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate, the combined organic layers were washed with brine, were dried (MgSO4), were filtered, and were concentrated in vacuo. Purification by silica gel chromatography (10:1 hexanes—ethyl acetate) afforded 3.8 g (53% yield) of 5-bromoisoquinoline; 1H NMR (400 MHz, CD3OD) δ9.25 (s, 1H), 8.57 (d, J=6.2 Hz, 1H), 8.1 (m, 3H), 7.60 (m, 1H); MS (AP/Cl): 208.0, 210.0 (M+H)+.

Provenance & Evidence