One-pot process for the amination of oxazolidinone mesylate by sodium diformylamide

ORGN 503

Jinchu Liu, jinchu_liu@merck.com, Mark Cameron, Scott Hoerrner, and James M. McNamara. Department of Process Research, Merck and Co., Inc, PO Box 2000, Rahway, NJ 07065-0900
A one-pot method for preparing the oxazolidinone acetamide 4 in excellent yield has been developed. This method employs the mesylate 1a rather than the comparatively more expensive nosylate 1b. The use of commercially available sodium diformylamide as the nitrogen source overcomes problematic secondary amine formation and the use of highly toxic and explosive reagents.