Methyl iodide → Methyl 2-methyl-4-(methylamino)-3-nitrobenzoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Iodomethane (125 uL, 2.0 mmol) was added to a mixture of the methyl 4-amino-2-methyl-3-nitrobenzoate (400 mg, 1.9 mmol) and sodium hydride (60% oil dispersion, 84 mg, 2.1 mmol) in tetrahydrofuran (10 mL) at 0° C. The reaction mixture was slowly warmed to room temperature and stirred for 18 hours. The reaction mixture was quenched with saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution and extracted with ethyl acetate. The combined extract was washed with water (2×30 mL), brine (30 mL), dried over sodium sulfate, filtered and concentrated, then purified by flash chromatography (25% ethyl acetate in hexanes) to give methyl 2-methyl-4-(methylamino)-3-nitrobenzoate (308 mg, 72% yield). 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): 7.94 (d, 1H), 6.63 (d, 1H), 5.68 (br, 1H), 3.86 (d, 2H), 2.58 (s, 3H); MS (EI) for C10H12N2O4: 225 (MH+).

Provenance & Evidence