morsagh - 20-2-2016 at 06:14
Are there any easy methods for synthesis of aminoacids without using cyanide? Thank you
chemplayer.. - 20-2-2016 at 06:34
If you can start from a halo-acid then there are various options to convert this to a primary amine including potassium phthalimide and hexamine.
Halo-acids in many cases can be synthesised from the corresponding hydroxy-acids using hydrogen halides with ZnCl2 catalyst.
We tried the former (phthalimide Gabriel synthesis) to produce Glycine from ethyl chloroacetate but found that the preparation notes we used (from
OrgSyn if I recall) radically underestimated the time required for the reaction to go to completion, so this is worth bearing in mind if you want to
try this.
The hexamine prep is still on our to-do list.