Codeine → Hydrocodone

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

A 100 mL Schlenk tube was charged with methanol (30 mL) and codeine free base (5.3 g, 17.7 mmol). The stirred solution was heated to reflux under nitrogen for 15 min and treated with the solution of the catalyst added by a pipette. The resulting brown solution was stirred and heated to reflux under nitrogen for 1 hour, cooled to 7° C. in an ice bath, stirred at this temperature for another 30 min and filtered. The filtered solid was washed with cold isopropanol (3×6 mL) and dried in an oven at 95° C. to give hydrocodone free base as a white solid. The yield was 4.48 g, 84.5%.

Provenance & Evidence