The general procedure for the synthesis of ethyl 2-aminopropionate hydrochloride from ethanol and DL-alanine was as follows: commercially available DL-alanine (5.00 g, 56.12 mmol) was dissolved in 150 mL of anhydrous ethanol, 5 mL of 37% concentrated hydrochloric acid was added, and the mixture was refluxed for 5 hours. After completion of the reaction, the solvent was removed by evaporation and the resulting colorless oily residue was vacuum dried to give the target product in 92% yield. The product was characterized by 1H NMR (CDCl3): δ 1.05 (t, 3H, J=7.07Hz, -OCH2CH3), 1.45 (d, 3H, J=7.25Hz, -CHCH3), 3.48 (q, 2H, J=7.07Hz, -OCH2CH3), and 4.02 ppm (q, 1H, J=7.25Hz, - CHCH3). High-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS, ESI, 140 eV) analysis showed that the m/z [M+H+] calculated value for C5H12NO2 was 118.0868 and the measured value was 118.0794.
