Ethyl 2-bromoacetate

By the action of sodium urethane on ethyl chloroacetate, N-chloroacetyl urethane is formed  

This forms crystals melting at 129° C., sparingly soluble in cold water, but soluble in alcohol. 

Ethyl chloroacetate was used only to a limited extent in the last war. It was manufactured in large quantities, however, for the preparation of two other substances whose aggressive action was much more efficacious ethyl bromo- and iodo-acetates. 

Ethyl bromoacetate, according to Meyer, was the first substance employed in warfare as gas (at the end of 1914). At the beginning it was used in hand grenades, but later the French preferred to use it in shells. 

It was prepared for the first time by Perkin and Duppa by treating bromoacetic acid with ethyl alcohol in a closed tube for I hour in the cold  

The mixture is allowed to cool, and 75 cc. of water is added slowly to destroy the acetic anhydride. Excess acetic acid and water are now removed on a boiling water bath under a pressure 

The mixture is transferred to a separatory funnel and washed once with 1.5 1. of water, once with 1.5 1. of 1 per cent sodium 

The vapors of ethyl bromoacetate are extremely irritating to the eyes. Care should be taken to keep the material in closed containers and to manipulate it in open vessels only in a good hood. 

An all-glass apparatus is advisable. If it is not available, one-holed asbestos stoppers may be made by soaking strips of asbestos in water, wrapping them around pieces of glass tubing of suitable size until the desired diameter has been reached, and then allowing them to dry at 110°. 

At the beginning there is a lag of about ten minutes before the reaction starts and the color of the bromine disappears. 

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The Reformatsky Reaction consists of the interaction of an ester of an a-halogeno-acid with an aldehyde, a ketone or another ester in the presence of zinc. For example, if a mixture of ethyl bromoacetate and benzaldehyde is heated with zinc, the latter undoubtedly first combines with the ethyl bromoacetate to form a Grignard-like reagent (reaction A), which then adds on to the benzaldehyde Just as a Grignard reagent would do (reaction B). The complex so formed, on acidification gives ethyl p-phenyl-p-hydroxy-propionate (reaction C). Note that reaction A could not satisfactorily be carried out using... 

Required Zinc powder, 20 g. ethyl bromoacetate, 28 ml. benzaldehyde, 32 ml. 

Preparation of REAOENTS.t It is essential for this preparation that the zinc powder should be in an active condition. For this purpose, it is usually sufficient if a sample of ordinary technical zinc powder is vigorously shaken in a flask with pure ether, and then filtered off at the pump, washed once with ether, quickly drained and without delay transferred to a vacuum desiccator. If, however, an impure sample of zinc dust fails to respond to this treatment, it should be vigorously stirred in a beaker with 5% aqueous sodium hydroxide solution until an effervescence of hydrogen occurs, and then filtered at the pump, washed thoroughly with distilled water, and then rapidly with ethanol and ether, and dried as before in a vacuum desiccator. The ethyl bromoacetate (b.p. 159 ) and the benzaldehyde (b.p. 179 ) should be dried and distilled before use. 

A 1500 ml. flask is fitted (preferably by means of a three-necked adaptor) with a rubber-sleeved or mercury-sealed stirrer (Fig. 20, p. 39), a reflux water-condenser, and a dropping-funnel cf. Fig. 23(c), p. 45, in which only a two-necked adaptor is shown or Fig. 23(G)). The dried zinc powder (20 g.) is placed in the flask, and a solution of 28 ml. of ethyl bromoacetate and 32 ml. of benzaldehyde in 40 ml. of dry benzene containing 5 ml. of dry ether is placed in the dropping-funnel. Approximately 10 ml. of this solution is run on to the zinc powder, and the mixture allowed to remain unstirred until (usually within a few minutes) a vigorous reaction occurs. (If no reaction occurs, warm the mixture on the water-bath until the reaction starts.) The stirrer is now started, and the rest of the solution allowed to run in drop-wise over a period of about 30 minutes so that the initial reaction is steadily maintained. The flask is then heated on a water-bath for 30 minutes with continuous stirring, and is then cooled in an ice-water bath. The well-stirred product is then hydrolysed by the addition of 120 ml. of 10% sulphuric acid. The mixture is transferred to a separating-funnel, the lower aqueous layer discarded, and the upper benzene layer then... 

Ethyl bromoacetate is lachrymatory, and the preparation should therefore be carried out in a fume-cupboard. 

Ethyl bromoacetate (1). Fit a large modified Dean and Stark apparatus provided with a stopcock at the lower end (a convenient size is shown in Fig. Ill, 126, 1) to the 1-htre flask containing the crude bromoacetic acid of the previous preparation and attach a double surface condenser to the upper end. Mix the acid with 155 ml. of absolute ethyl alcohol, 240 ml. of sodium-dried benzene and 1 ml. of concentrated sulphuric acid. Heat the flask on a water bath water, benzene and alcohol will collect in the special apparatus and separate into two layers, the lower layer consisting of approximately 50 per cent, alcohol. Run ofi the lower layer (ca. 75 ml.), which includes all the water formed in the... 

Ethyl bromoacetate vapour is extremely irritating to the eyes. The preparation must therefore be conducted in a fume cupboard provided with a good draught the material should be kept in closed vessels as far as possible. 

Great caro must be exercised in handling ethyl bromoacetate. Keep a 10 per cent, aqueous ammonia solution available to react with any bromoester which may be spilled. 

There are several laboratory methods useful for the preparation of suberic acid. One starting material is 1,6-hexanediol which can be converted to the dibromide with HBr. Reaction of the dibromide with NaCN gives the dinitrile which can be hydrolyzed to suberic acid. The overall yield is 76% (42). Another laboratory method is the condensation of 1,3-cyclohexanedione with ethyl bromoacetate foUowed by reductive cleavage to give suberic acid in 50% yield (43). 

Thiazolines and thiazolidines may also be prepared in this fashion, the structure of the final product determining the substitution pattern to be chosen in the reaction components. Reaction of ethyl bromoacetate with the substituted thioamide (71) resulted in formation of the thiazolidin-4-one (72) (70KGS1621). 

Ethyl (triphenylphosphoranylidene)acetate is available from FIuka AG and Trldom Chemical Inc. under the name (ethoxycarbonylmethylene)triphenyl-phosphorane and from Aldrich Chemical Company, Inc. under the name (carbethoxymethylene)triphenylphosphorane. The reagent may be prepared from triphenyl phosphine and ethyl bromoacetate by the following procedure. ... 

A 1-L, two-necked, round-bottomed flask fitted with a dropping funnel and a mechanical stirrer is charged with 131.0 g (0.5 mol) of triphenyl phosphine (FIuka AG, purum) and 250 mL of benzene (Merck, pro analysi). The solution is stirred vigorously while 83.5 g (0.5 mol) of ethyl bromoacetate (FIuka AG,... 

Both methyltriethylphosphonium fluoride and methyltributylphospho-nium fluoride have been prepared The latter generates benzyl fluoride from benzyl chloride in 80% yield and ethyl fluoroacetate from ethyl bromoacetate in 53% yield Methyltnbutylphosphonium fluoride converts 1-bromododecane to a 50 50 mixture of 1-fluorododecane and 1-dodecene Methyltnbutylphosphonium fluoride also quantitatively forms styrene from 1-bromo-1-phenylethane [26] Methyl-tnbutylphosphonium fluonde is the reagent of choice for the conversion of N,N dimethylchloroacetamide to its fluoride, but it is not able to convert chloro-acetonitnle to fluoroacetomtrile Methyltnbutylphosphonium fluoride changes chloromethyl octyl ether to the crude fluoromethyl ether in 66% yield The stereoselectivity of methyltnbutylphosphonium fluoride is illustrated by the reac tions of the 2-tert-butyl-3-chlorooxiranes [27] (Table 2)... 

C alkylation was used in the corydaline synthesis 194). LukeS and Dedek 195) obtained on methylation of l-methyl-2-ethylidenepyrrolidine a C-alkylation product, i.e., l-methyl-2-isopropyl-/l -pyrroline (106). Alkylation of the same enamine with ethyl bromoacetate was the first synthetic step in the preparation of D,L-pseudoheliotridane 196). 

Reduction of the quaternary immonium salt 161, obtained by treatment of l-methyl-2-ethylidenepyrrolidine with ethyl bromoacetate, by means of either sodium borohydride or formic acid, leads to (—)-erythro-2-(2-N-methylpyrrolidyl)butyric acid (162), in agreement with Cram s rule (196). 

Quaternization of harman (235) with ethyl bromoacetate, followed by cyclization of the pyridinium salt 236 with 1,2-cyclohexane-dione in refluxing ethanol yielded an ester which on hydrolysis gave the pseudo-cross-conjugated mesomeric betaine 237. Decarboxylation resulted in the formation of the alkaloid Sempervirine (238). The PCCMB 237 is isoconjugate with the 11/7-benzo[u]fluorene anion—an odd nonalternant hydrocarbon anion—and belongs to class 14 of heterocyclic mesomeric betaines (Scheme 78). 

Reaction of pyridinium-A -(2-pyridyl)amidine (402) and alkyl haloace-tates in the presence of K2CO3 afforded a mixture of 4-oxo-4/f-pyrido[l, 2-u]pyrimidine-2-carboxylates 407 and 2-aminopyridine derivatives 406 through intermediers 403- 05, as depicted in Scheme 15 (00TL5837). Compound 406 could be cyclized on the action of heat or silica gel into 407. The best yield was achieved in the case of ethyl bromoacetate. 

The ring-contracted analog of alphaprodine is prepared by a variation of the scheme above. Alkylation of 109 with ethyl bromoacetate affords the lower homolog diester (115). Dieckmann cyclization followed by saponification-decarboxylation yields the pyrrolidine (116). Reaction with phenylmagnesium bromide leads to the condensation product (117) acylation with propionic anhydride gives the analgesic agent prolidine (118)... 

The first step in the sequence may involve Friedel-Crafts-type condensation of resorcinol with the enolate of 10 to afford the unsaturated ester, 11. Alkylation of the free phenol on 12 by means of ethyl bromoacetate affords chromonar (13). ... 

Substitution of somewhat more complex side chains on the imidazole nitrogen of the purines leads to CNS stimulant drugs that have also been used as vasodilators and antispasmodic agents. Thus, alkylation of theophyline (2) with ethyl bromoacetate followed by saponification of the product gives acephylline (9). Alkylation with l-bromo-2-chloroethane gives the 2-chloroethyl derivative (10). Reaction of that intermediate with amphetamine yields fenethylline (11). ... 

A cinnamoylpiperazine is described as an anti anginal agent. The key intermediate 1 can, in principle, be obtained by alkylation of the monobenzyl derivative of piperazine 71 with ethyl bromoacetate (72). Removal of the protecting group then affords the substituted piperazine (73). Acylation of this with 3,4,5-trimethoxycinamoyl chloride gives cinepazet (74). ... 

Ethylene oxide (2.5 ml, 0.05 mole) is condensed in a 50-ml round-bottom flask containing 5 ml of methylene chloride by introducing the gas via a tube into the ice-cooled flask. To the cooled flask are added triphenylphosphine (6.6 g, 0.025 mole), benzaldehyde (2.6 g, 0.025 mole), and ethyl bromoacetate (4.2 g, 0.025 mole). The flask is closed with a drying tube, brought to room temperature, and allowed to stand overnight. Fractional distillation of the solution then yields 2-bromoethanol, bp 55717 mm followed by the desired ethyl cinnamate, bp 142-144717 mm (27171 atm) in about 90% yield. The residue consists of triphenylphosphine oxide, mp 150°. 

Trialkylboranes react with ethyl bromoacetate to give ethyl alkylacetates in good yields (6). As in other reactions of boranes, only one of the three alkyl groups is utilized... 

A dry 5(X)-mI flask equipped with a thermometer, pressure-equalizing dropping funnel, and magnetic stirrer is flushed with nitrogen and then maintained under a static pressure of the gas. The flask is charged with 50 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 13.3 ml (0.15 mole) of cyclopentene, and then is cooled in an ice bath. Conversion to tricyclo-pentylborane is achieved by dropwise addition of 25 ml of a 1 M solution of diborane (0.15 mole of hydride see Chapter 4, Section 1 for preparation) in tetrahydrofuran. The solution is stirred for 1 hour at 25° and again cooled in an ice bath, and 25 ml of dry t-butyl alcohol is added, followed by 5.5 ml (0.05 mole) of ethyl bromoacetate. Potassium t-butoxide in /-butyl alcohol (50 ml of a 1 M solution) is added over a period of 10 minutes. There is an immediate precipitation of potassium bromide. The reaction mixture is filtered from the potassium bromide and distilled. Ethyl cyclopentylacetate, bp 101730 mm, 1.4398, is obtained in about 75% yield. Similarly, the reaction can be applied to a variety of olefins including 2-butene, cyclohexene, and norbornene. 

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