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Continuous Flow Chemistry: Reaction of Diphenyldiazomethane with p-Nitrobenzoic Acid
Published on: November 15, 2017
Synthesis of Picramide Using Nitration and Ammonolysis in Continuous Flow
Ankit Kumar Mittal1, Gaurav Prakash1, Pramod Pathak1
1Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay Powai, Mumbai, 400076, India.
Abstract:
This paper describes a safer, scalable and continuous process for synthesis of picramide. The process consists of two steps: step-1. nitration of p-nitroanisole (PNAN) to 2,4,6-trinitrianisole (TNAN); step-2. ammonolysis of TNAN to picramide. Both the steps were optimized in flow, with yield of 90% and 98% in step-1 and step-2 respectively. Picramide with HPLC purity greater than 99% was obtained. When compared with batch, in step-1, flow process provided significant advantage in selectivity and yield. The optimized flow process was scaled to 25 g/hr production rate in a laboratory flow reactor. The method can be considered fit for the safe production of picramide at commercial scale.
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