Abstract
As a result of recent efforts in green solvent selection, methyl 5-(dimethylamino)-2-methyl-5-oxopentanoate, sold under the brand name Rhodiasolv PolarClean, has received considerable scientific and industrial attention as a possible non-toxic replacement for common polar aprotic solvents. However, the multicomponent nature and multi-step synthesis of this solvent remains an obstacle for its more widespread use and niche applications. In this work, a retrosynthetic approach was taken to identify novel shorter synthetic routes in alignment with green chemistry principles. High purity methyl 5-(dimethylamino)-2-methyl-5-oxopentanoate was obtained in novel single-step reactions via two different base-catalysed Michael additions from readily available building blocks. The more advanced synthetic route shows great potential owing to the swift (30 min), solvent-free reaction and catalytic amounts of base (
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 4178-4188 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Green Chemistry |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 15 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2019 |
Bibliographical note
KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01Acknowledgements: The authors are thankful to Ms Hai Anh Le Phuong and Mr Fan Fei (both from The University of Manchester) for their assistance with UV-Vis spectroscopy and capacitance measurements, respectively.