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Updated: Mar 19, 2026

Continuous Flow Chemistry: Reaction of Diphenyldiazomethane with p-Nitrobenzoic Acid
Published on: November 15, 2017
A Sustainable, Semi-Continuous Flow Synthesis of Hydantoins
Stella Vukelić1, Beate Koksch1, Peter H Seeberger1,2
1Department of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy, Free University Berlin, Takustrasse 3, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
Hydantoins are an important class of heterocycles with applications in pharmacy, agriculture, and as intermediates in organic synthesis. Traditional synthetic procedures to access hydantoins are target oriented with multiple synthetic steps and often use reagents that are not commercially available or sustainable. Herein, an efficient process is described for accessing hydantoins starting from commercially available amines using consecutive gas-liquid transformations (oxygen, carbon dioxide). This semi-continuous process produced ten benzylic/aliphatic hydantoins in good overall yields (52-84 %).
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