Palmitoylethanolamide → N-[2-(ethoxycarbonyl)oxyethyl]hexadecanamide

Participants

Reaction Steps

3.0 g of N-(2-hydroxyethyl) hexadecanamide (10 mmoles) was dissolved in 75 ml of tetrahydrofuran (THF) at 45° C. with stirring. 1.11 g of N-methylmorpholine (11 moles) and 1.19 g of ethyl chloroformate (11 moles) were added and the resulting mixture was stirred for a further 3 hours at ambient temperature. The mixture was then evaporated to dryness under vacuum. The residue was taken up with 50 ml of water and extracted 3 times with 30 ml of ethyl acetate; the organic phases were washed twice with 20 ml of water, recombined and evaporated to dryness. The residue was crystallized from 30 ml of tert-butylmethyl ether. The crystallizate was separated by filtration, washed twice with 5 ml of cold tert-butylmethyl ether and finally dried under a high degree of vacuum. The yield of the reaction was 93%.

Provenance & Evidence