To a three-necked round bottom flask equipped with a condenser, addition funnel, thermometer, and mechanical stirrer and containing 300 ml. 95% ethanol precooled to 2°C is added, all at once, 14.5 g (0.1 mole) 4-methyl-4-nitropentanol, and 13.1 g (1.2 mole) zinc dust. With rapid agitation, the glacial acetic acid (24.0 g, 0.4 mole) is added dropwise over a 1-hr period while maintaining the reaction temperature below 15°C. The mixture is stirred vigorously for 2 hr and then stored in the refrigerator for 2 days, at approximately 1°C. Then the zinc acetate is filtered and rinsed with 100 ml of ethanol. The combined ethanol factions are rotoevapo-rated to give the crude nitrone. The crude nitrone is dissolved in a 200 ml portion of dichloromethane and the latter washed two times with saturated sodium bicarbonate solution. The organic layer is dried over sodium sulfate and the solvent rotoevaporated, to give 10.7 (94% yield) of the crude nitrone. The product was purified by double distillation (b.p. 53°C, 0.1 Torr), to give 6.8 g (60%) of the pure nitrone as a white hygroscopic solid. The H
1 NMR (400 MH CDC1
3, Me
4Si) is 6.80 (t, 2H, methylene bound to quaternary C, J = 7.2Hg), 1.43 (s, 6H, methyl), C
13NMr (100 MH2, CDC13, Me
4 Si) 5=132.4 (Vinyl), 73.5 (quaternary), 34.1 (Allyl), 25.3 (methylene bound to quaternary C), 24.4 (methyls).
