N-(tert-Butoxycarbonyl)-3-[(3S)-2-oxopyrrolidin-3-yl]-l-alanine (6)
A 3 L multineck flask equipped with an overhead stirrer and internal thermometer was charged with methyl N-(tert-butoxycarbonyl)-3-[(3S)-2-oxopyrrolidin-3-yl]-l-alaninate (compound 5)33 (205 g, 716 mmol) followed by methanol (1 L), and the solution was cooled to 0 °C using ice/NaCl bath. NaOH (115 g in 950 mL water, 2.9 mol) solution was precooled to 0 °C and then added to the flask via a pressure-equalizing dropping funnel at such a rate to maintain the internal temperature below 5 °C. The resulting solution was stirred at 0 °C for 1 h before neutralizing with conc. hydrochloric acid (keeping the internal temperature below 10 °C) and then removing the methanol in vacuo. The residue was diluted with ethyl acetate (400 mL), acidified to pH 3 with conc. hydrochloric acid, and then the mixture was transferred to a sep funnel, and the organics were removed. The aqueous was extracted with ethyl acetate (2 × 400 mL), and the combined organics were washed with brine, dried over MgSO4, filtered, and concentrated to yield the title compound as a white foam, 95%. 1H NMR (400 MHz, MeOD) δ 3.98–4.28 (m, 1H), 3.25–3.41 (m, 2H), 2.44–2.57 (m, 1H), 2.29–2.41 (m, 1H), 2.03–2.14 (m, 1H), 1.73–1.90 (m, 2H), 1.44 (s, 9H); MS (APCI−) for C12H20N2O5m/z 272.3 (M – H)−.