Synthesis
Tert-butanol (10 mL) was added to a solution of toluene (100 mL) containing succinic anhydride (6.04 g, 60.40 mmol), N-hydroxysuccinimide (2.53 g, 22.01 mmol) and 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP, 0.88 g, 7.23 mmol). The reaction mixture was heated under reflux conditions for 48 hours. Upon completion of the reaction, it was cooled to room temperature and two layers (brown oil and a clarified colorless solution) were observed to form in the reaction vessel. The crude product solution was diluted with ethyl acetate (EtOAc, 50 mL) and washed sequentially with 10% aqueous citric acid (2 x 50 mL) and saturated saline. The organic layer was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate (Na2SO4) and the solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure. The crude product was recrystallized with a solvent mixture of ethyl ether/petroleum ether (1:3, 25 mL) to obtain mono-tert-butyl succinate in quantitative yield.
References
[1] Beilstein Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2017, vol. 13, p. 2428 - 2441
[2] Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 2012, vol. 55, # 23, p. 10460 - 10474
[3] Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2003, vol. 68, # 17, p. 6679 - 6684
[4] Organic Letters, 2006, vol. 8, # 4, p. 713 - 716
[5] Angewandte Chemie - International Edition, 2017, vol. 56, # 6, p. 1643 - 1647
