Studies on the Synthesis of Amino Acids by the Schmidt Reaction. I. Synthesis of Aliphatic Neutral Amino Acids from Alkylmalonic Acid.

Abstract

Several amino acids were synthesized from variousl alkylmalonic acids by reacting with a little excess of hydrazoic acid in chloroform at 50∼60°, catalyzed by 100% sulfuric acid. Reaction products were treated with Amberlite IR-120 or Amberlite IR-4B and the expected amino acids were readily obtained in a considerably pure state. In this reaction it seemed that a large alkyl group in alkylmalonic acid tended to lessen the yield of amino acids. This method is excellent in some points, namely, the starting mateial, alkylmalonic acid, is easily obtainable, the procedure is simple, the yield is high, and there is no fear of inorganic salts contaminated in the products.