Benzylamine → Lacosamide

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

Into a 2 L, four-necked RB flask was charged 1250 ml of ethyl acetate and 25 g of N-acetyl-O-methyl-D-serine under nitrogen atmosphere. The reaction mass was cooled to −20° C. and added 16.5 g of N-methylmorpholine. Isobutyl chloroformate (22.3 g) was slowly added to the reaction mass. After stirring for 30 min benzylamine (17.5 g) was slowly added to the reaction mass and stirred for 30 min. Temperature of the reaction mass was raised to 25-30° C. and stirred for 1 h. Reaction mass was quenched with 100 ml of 1N HCl and transferred into a separating funnel. Organic layer was washed with brine and dried over sodium sulphate. Solvent was partially distilled of from the mass under vacuum. The residue was kept under stirring and filtered the solid. The wet solid was recrystallized from ethyl acetate to get 35 g of pharma grade lacosamide. Chiral HPLC purity is >99.9% and the related impurities are <0.5%.

Provenance & Evidence