Crowe, Sofiah
Sofiah
Crowe
Presentation: 2026 ND EPSCoR Annual conference
October 20, 2026, Minot, North Dakota
Rapid synthesis of N-ethyl-N-(1-phenylethyl)formamide
Sofiah
Crowe
Undergraduate Student
Minot State University
Lioudmila I. Bobyleva, Instructor, Minot State University ; Mikhail M. Bobylev, Instructor, Minot State University
Session
Poster #14
Background: Earlier, we developed a rapid procedure for the Leuckart reaction and successfully applied it for the synthesis of substituted N-ethyl-N-(1-phenylethyl)formamides. Depending on the nature of the substituent on the benzene ring, the time of the reaction between a substituted acetophenone and N-ethylformamide varied between 30 minutes and 120 minutes. The new procedure appeared to be much faster than the traditional Leuckart reaction that is usually completed within 3 to 6 hours. As the next step of this investigation, it was important to determine the reaction time of unsubstituted acetophenone. Hypothesis: The time of the reaction of unsubstituted acetophenone with N-ethylformamide may be close to the reaction time of acetophenone with moderately withdrawing substituents, such as bromo- or iodo, specifically between 30 and 100 minutes. Methods: The reaction was conducted on a 5 mmol scale at 180-199 centigrades. Extraction and column chromatography were used for the isolation of the product of the reaction. NMR-spectroscopy and elemental analysis were used to determine the structure of the product. Result: The reaction was completed in 50 minutes and produced N-ethyl-N-(1-phenylethyl)formamide with an isolated yield of 77%. Conclusion: The results of the reaction support the initial hypothesis. The reaction provides a new method for the synthesis of N-ethyl-N-(1-phenylethyl)formamide. Support: Research presented in this presentation was supported by NIH grant 8 P20 GM103442-12 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and by the National Science Foundation under NSF EPSCoR Track-1 Cooperative Agreement OIA #1946202.
