Synthesis of R -ethyl 3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropylcarbamate

One 50 mL flask equipped with a magnetic stirrer bar One glass funnel (25 mL) 

To a solution of non-purihed (7 )-3-amino-l-phenylpropan-l-ol which had been prepared from 3-oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile (1.0 mmol) (see above) in 15 mL dichloromethane was added 10 mL saturated aqueous NaHCOa. Ethyl chloroformate (0.4 mL) in 15mL dichloromethane was added to the mixture dropwise over 10 min. The mixture was allowed to stir at room temperature overnight. 

The reaction mixture was extracted with dichloromethane (3 x 10 mL) and dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate. The solvent was evaporated and the residue was purihed by column chromatography employing ethyl acetate-hexane (10 90) as the eluent to afford (7 )-ethyl 3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropylcarbamate as an oil (63% yield over two steps from 3-oxo-3-phenylpropanenitrile). 

To a solution of lithium aluminum hydride (190 mg, 5.0 mmol) in dry tetra-hydrofuran (10 mL) under argon at room temperature was added dropwise a solution of (/ )-ethyl 3-hydroxy-3-phenylpropylcarbamate (1.0 mmol) in dry tetrahydrofuran (5mL) and the resulting reaction mixture was heated under reflux for 1 h. 

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