Synthesis 2003(4): 0570-0576
DOI: 10.1055/s-2003-37653
PAPER
© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

A New Method of N-Benzhydryl Deprotection in 2-Azetidinone Series

Mathieu Laurenta, Marc Belmansb, Luc Kempsb, Marcel Cérésiatb, Jacqueline Marchand-Brynaert*a
a Université catholique de Louvain, Unité de chimie organique et médicinale, Bâtiment Lavoisier, 1 place Louis Pasteur, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium
Fax: +32(10)474168; e-Mail: marchand@chim.ucl.ac.be;
b Tessenderlo Chemie s.a./n.v., 130 rue du Trône, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Further Information

Publication History

Received 25 November 2002
Publication Date:
07 March 2003 (online)

Abstract

A mild and efficient procedure for the selective cleavage of N-benzhydryl protecting group of β-lactams is described. The protected 2-azetidinones 4, precursors of carbapenems, were treated with a stoichiometric amount of N-bromosuccinimide and a catalytic amount of bromine under sun light irradiation in CH2Cl2-H2O mixture at 20 °C for 3 hours. The N-benzhydrol intermediates 6, which could be isolated, were then hydrolyzed with p-TsOH in aqueous acetone to furnish β-lactams 7 and benzophenone quantitatively.

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Tinant, B.; Laurent, M.; Marchand-Brynaert, J. Z. Kristallogr. NCS 2002, submitted.