ChemInform Abstract: Facile Synthesis of tert-Butyl Ester of N-Protected Amino Acids with tert-Butyl Bromide

A facile synthesis of a wide variety of N-benzyloxycarbonyl-amino acid-tert-butyl ester derivatives under mild conditions is described. N-protected amino acids were esterified with tert-butyl bromide in dimethylacetamide as solvent, in the presence of benzyltriethylammonium chloride (BTEAC)and a large excess of potassium carbonate. Many amino Z-acid-Tert-butyl esters that might be difficult to prepare by other methods have been synthesized in high yields by this procedure. The reaction is simple, unexpansive, easily scaled up, and proceeds without observable racemization.