144222-20-8

A simple method for chemically differentiating primary and secondary amines is described in which the primary amine is condensed with benzaldehyde to form an imine leaving the secondary amine available to be protected with BOC. The imine is then hydrolyze

(Chemical Equation Presented) At 130 °C, in the presence of CO 2 (5-200 bar), primary aliphatic amines react with dimethyl carbonate (MeOCO2Me, DMC) to yield methyl carbamates (RNHCO2Me) and N-methylation side-products (RNHMe and RNMe2). The pressure of CO2 largely influences both the reaction conversion and the selectivity toward urethanes: in general, conversion goes through a maximum (70-80%) in the midrange (40 bar) and drops at lower and higher pressures, whereas selectivity is continuously improved (from 50% up to 90%) by an increase of the pressure. This is explained by the multiple role of CO2 in (i) the acid/base equilibrium with aliphatic amines, (ii) the reactivity/solubility of RNHCO2- nucleophiles with/in DMC, and (iii) the inhibition of competitive N-methylation reaction of the substrates. Cosolvents also affect the reaction: in particular, a drop in selectivity is observed with polar protic media (i.e., MeOH), plausibly because of solvation effects (through H-bonds) of RNHCO2- moieties. The reaction shows also a good chemoselectivity: bifunctional aliphatic amines bearing either aromatic NH2 or OH substituents [XC6H4(CH2)nNH2, X = NH2, OH; n = 1 2], undergo methoxycarbonylation reactions exclusively at aliphatic amino groups and give the corresponding methyl carbamates [XC 6H4(CH2)nNHCO2Me] in 39-65% isolated yields.