Ammonia → 3,3,5-Trimethoxy-4-chloro-2-pyrrolidinone

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Reaction Steps

Concentrated aqueous ammonia (10 ml) was cooled to -10° C. and 3,4-dihydro-3,3,5-trimethoxy-4-chloro-2(5H)-furanone (2 g) was gradually added. The mixture was stirred at 0° C. for about 5 minutes, at the end of which time the excess ammonia was neutralized with HCl-saturated methanol, followed by distillation under reduced pressure. The residue was extracted with chloroform, the chloroform was distilled off, and the residual oil was dissolved in methanol-HCl-saturated methanol (20 ml) and refluxed for 1 hour. The reaction mixture was concentrated under reduced pressure and the residue was subjected to silica gel column chromatography using hexane-acetone (5:3) as the eluent. The active fractions were pooled and concentrated under reduced pressure to give crystals. Recrystallization from benzene yielded 3,3,5-trimethoxy-4-chloro-2-pyrrolidinone as crystals (1.12 g).

Provenance & Evidence