Synthesis of biobased N-methylpyrrolidone by one-pot cyclization and methylation of γ-aminobutyric acid
Authors:
- 21 July 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in Green Chemistry
- Vol. 12 (8) , 1430-1436
Abstract
N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) is an industrial solvent that is currently based on fossil resources. In order to prepare it in a biobased way, the possibility to synthesize NMP from γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was investigated, since GABA can be obtained from glutamic acid, an amino acid that is present in many plant proteins. Cyclization of GABA to 2-pyrrolidone and subsequent methylation of 2-pyrrolidone to NMP was achieved in a one-pot procedure, using methanol as the methylating agent and a halogen salt (i.e. ammonium bromide) as a catalyst. A selectivity above 90% was achieved, as well as a high conversion. Methylation of 2-pyrrolidone could also be done with dimethyl carbonate, but then the selectivity for NMP was less (67%).Keywords
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