Phenylacetamides

Hydrolysis of benzyl cyanide to phenylacetamide. In a 1500 ml. three-necked flask, provided with a thermometer, reflux condenser and efficient mechanical stirrer, place 100 g. (98 ml.) of benzyl]cyanide and 400 ml. of concentrated hydrochloric acid. Immerse the flask in a water bath at 40°. and stir the mixture vigorously the benzyl cyanide passes into solution within 20-40 minutes and the temperature of the reaction mixture rises to about 50°, Continue the stirring for an additional 20-30 minutes after the mixture is homogeneous. Replace the warm water in the bath by tap water at 15°, replace the thermometer by a dropping funnel charged with 400 ml. of cold distilled water, and add the latter with stirring crystals commence to separate after about 50-75 ml. have been introduced. When all the water has been run in, cool the mixture externally with ice water for 30 minutes (1), and collect the crude phenylacetamide by filtration at the pump. Remove traces of phenylacetic acid by stirring the wet sohd for about 30 minutes with two 50 ml. portions of cold water dry the crystals at 50-80°. The yield of phenylacetamide, m.p. 154-155°, is 95 g. RecrystaUisation from benzene or rectified spirit raises the m.p. to 156°. 

The suspension of phenylacetamide may be further hydrolysed to phenylacetic acid by refluxing with stirring until the solid dissolves. The mixture becomes turbid after 30 minutes and the product begins to separate as an oil refluxing is continued for 6 hours, the mixture is cooled first with tap water and then by an ice-water bath for about 4 hours. The crude phenylacetic acid is filtered at the pump, washed with two 50 ml. portions of cold water, and dried in a desiccator. The resulting crude acid melts at 69- 70° it may be purified by recrystallisation from light p>etroleum (b.p. 40-60°) or, better, by vacuum distillation. 

By the action of concentrated hydrochloric acid at about 40° upon aryl-acetonitriles hydrolysis is arrested at the arylacetamide stage (see Section IV, 160 for the preparation of phenylacetamide by this method) ... 

When an alkyl aryl ketone is heated with yellow ammonium polysulphide solution at an elevated temperature, an aryl substituted aliphatic acid amide is foimed the product actually isolated is the amide of the ci-aryl carboxylic acid together with a smaller amount of the corresponding ammonium salt of the oarboxylio acid. Thus acetophenone affords phenylacetamide (50 per cent.) and ammonium phenylacetate (13 per cent.) ... 

Disopyr mide. Disopyramide phosphate, a phenylacetamide analogue, is a racemic mixture. The dmg can be adininistered po or iv and is useful in the treatment of ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmias (1,2). After po administration, absorption is rapid and nearly complete (83%). Binding to plasma protein is concentration-dependent (35—95%), but at therapeutic concentrations of 2—4 lg/mL, about 50% is protein-bound. Peak plasma concentrations are achieved in 0.5—3 h. The dmg is metabolized in the fiver to a mono-AJ-dealkylated product that has antiarrhythmic activity. The elimination half-life of the dmg is 4—10 h. About 80% of the dose is excreted by the kidneys, 50% is unchanged and 50% as metabolites 15% is excreted into the bile (1,2). 

This amide, readily formed from an amine and the anhydride or enzymatically using penicillin amidase, is readily cleaved by penicillin acylase (pH 8.1, A -methylpyrrolidone, 65-95% yield). This deprotection procedure works on peptides, phosphorylated peptides, and oligonucleotides, as well as on nonpeptide substrates. The deprotection of racemic phenylacetamides with penicillin acylase can result in enantiomer enrichment of the cleaved amine and the remaining amide. An immobilized form of penicillin G acylase has been developed. ... 

The labeled aminopyridine 103 was further used for the synthesis of iV-(2-ethyl-3-chloro-4-pyiidin-2-yl-[ C]-4-(4-chlorophenoxy)phenylacetamide-[ C]-1)(98MI1). 

Chemical Name N-(p-Chlorophenyl)-N-(1-isopropylplperidin-4-yl)phenylacetamide hydrochloride... 

The need of the acylurea site participating in intermolecular hydrogen bonding (cf. Figs. 11 and 12) for the complex formation is exemplified by the fact that a 1 1 mixture of JV-(p-dimethylaminophenyl)phenylacetamide (21) and JV-isobutyl-p-nitro-benzamide (22) gives no crystalline complexes under the same conditions as with 19 and 20. The trend of the complex formation often changes, when the combinations of R7 and R8 are reversed 35). 

F. la-c. Cyclic voltammograms of dissolved and stance confined ferrcx ne in a< tonitrile/0.1 M TBAP. a. 4 X 10 M dissolved ferrocene at Pt. b. 4-ferrocenyl-phenylacetamid monolayer bound to Pt (ref. ). c. Poly-vinylferrocene dip coated on Pt,r = 1 x lO raolcm. Straight arrows indicate diffusional events. Curved arrows electron transfer events (from ref. ). 

The hydrolysis of arylacetonitnles may be arrest at the arylacetamide stage by treatment with concentrated hydrochloric acid at about 40° thus benzyl cyanide yields phenylacetamide ... 

We also wanted to evaluate the disassembly of our dendritic system under physiological conditions. Thus, we synthesized a self-immolative AB6 dendron 32 with water-soluble tryptophan tail units and a phenylacetamide head as a trigger (Fig. 5.26) to evaluate disassembly in aqueous conditions. The phenylacetamide is selectively cleaved by the bacterial enzyme penicillin G amidase (PGA). The trigger was designed to disassemble through azaquinone methide rearrangement and cyclic dimethylurea elimination to release a phenol intermediate that will undergo six quinone methide elimination reactions to release the tryptophan tail units. 

Molecular structure of a self-immolative AB6 dendron with tryptophan tail units and phenylacetamide group as a trigger. 

Dendron 32 was incubated in phosphate buffer saline, pH 7.4, in the presence and in the absence of PGA. The progress of the disassembly was monitored by RP-HPLC, and the results are presented in Fig. 5.27. Tryptophan was gradually released from dendron 32 upon incubation with PGA. The release was completed within 48 h in the presence of PGA the control reaction without PGA showed no release at all. Although the disassembly of this dendron occurred more slowly under physiological conditions than dendron 31 in the MeOH/DMSO environment (Fig. 5.24), PGA cleaved its phenylacetamide substrate from dendron 32 and the resulting amine intermediate was disassembled to release the total six molecules of tryptophan. 

FIGURE 5.37 Chemical structure of a molecular probe with UV-Vis and fluorescence outputs for penicillin G amidase activity. The phenylacetamide group (red) is a substrate for PGA. The reporter units, 4-nitrophenol and 6-aminoquinoline, provide a visible signal and a fluorescence signal, respectively, upon release. (See the color version of this figure in Color Plates section.)... 

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