Ethylene Glycol → 1-Phenylpyrrolidin-2-one

Participants

Reaction Steps

The general procedure under argon was followed using copper(I) iodide (10 mg, 0.05 mmol), K3PO4 (425 mg, 2.00 mmol), 2-pyrrolidinone (91 μL, 1.20 mmol), iodobenzene (112 μL, 1.00 mmol), ethylene glycol (111 μL, 2.00 mmol) and 2-propanol (1.0 mL) at 90° C. Column chromatography using a solvent mixture (hexane/ethyl acetate=1/1) afforded N-(phenyl)-2-pyrrolidinone (80 mg, 50% isolated yield) as white solid. The spectral data (1H NMR) matched with the literature references and GC analysis indicated >95% purity. See Yin, J.; Buchwald, S. L. Org. Lett. 2000, 2, 1101-1104; and Kang, S.-K.; Lee, S.-H.; Lee, D. Synlett 2000, 1022-1024.

Provenance & Evidence