Magnesium Chloride → Ethyl 5,6-dihydro-4H-pyrrolo[3,2,1-ij]quinoline-1-carboxylate

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Reaction Steps

Magnesium chloride (27.7 g, 0.29 mol) was added to 2-methoxyethanol (400 mL) and the mixture heated to reflux. A solution of 3-(3,4-Dihydro-2H-quinolin-1-yl)-2-oxopropionic acid ethyl ester (0.29 mol) in 2-methoxyethanol (100 mL) and tetrahydrofuran (40 mL) was slowly added to the MgCl2 mixture over 1 hour. Upon completion of addition, the mixture was stirred for 5 hours at reflux, and then concentrated in vacuo. The concentrated crude mixture was treated with 2N hydrochloric acid (500 mL) and extracted with dichloromethane (3×400 mL). The combined organic layers were dried over Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was subjected to silica gel chromatography, eluting with 20% ethyl acetate/hexanes. Fractions containing product were combined and concentrated under reduced pressure to provide 31.6 g (48%) of the desired compound as an orange solid.

Provenance & Evidence