L-Valine, phenylmethyl ester, 4-methylbenzenesulfonate (1:1)

General procedure: The esterifications were carried out on L amino acids withthe exception of phenylglycine, the D enantiomer of whichwas used. A mixture of amino acid (0.05 mol), p-toluenesulfonicacid (0.06 mol), benzyl alcohol (0.25 mol) andcyclohexane (30 mL) was refluxed for 4 h using a Dean-Stark apparatus to separate water that was azeotroped outas it formed. The reaction mixture was cooled to roomtemperature and ethyl acetate (80 mL) was added. Afterstirring for 1 h, the precipitate was collected by filtrationand dried to give the corresponding benzyl ester p-toluenesulfonateas a white solid. According to this procedure, the amino acids 1–6 were converted into the correspondingbenzyl ester p-toluenesulfonates 1a–6a. The benzylationof 7 was accomplished in the same manner but in thepresence of more p-toluenesulfonic acid (0.11 mol) to givethe di-p-toluenesulfonate 7a as a white solid. The p-toluenesulfonate8a separated at the end of the reaction as anoil; instead of adding ethyl acetate, the supernatant wasremoved, the oily phase was washed with cyclohexane andthen poured into dichloromethane/aqueous Na2CO3. Afterremoving the water layer and evaporating dichloromethane, the residue was treated with hydrochloric methanol to give the corresponding hydrochloride as a white solid. Thebenzylation of 9 was prolonged over night and, at the endof the reaction, 9a separated as an oil, which was pouredinto dichloromethane/water. After removing the organiclayer, the water phase was made alkaline with NaHCO3 andextracted with ethyl acetate. The organic extract was concentratedto a small volume and a slight excess of p-toluenesulfonicacid was added to precipitate 9a as a white crystallinesolid.General procedure: The esterifications were carried out on L amino acids withthe exception of phenylglycine, the D enantiomer of whichwas used. A mixture of amino acid (0.05 mol), p-toluenesulfonicacid (0.06 mol), benzyl alcohol (0.25 mol) andcyclohexane (30 mL) was refluxed for 4 h using a Dean-Stark apparatus to separate water that was azeotroped outas it formed. The reaction mixture was cooled to roomtemperature and ethyl acetate (80 mL) was added. Afterstirring for 1 h, the precipitate was collected by filtrationand dried to give the corresponding benzyl ester p-toluenesulfonateas a white solid. According to this procedure, the amino acids 1-6 were converted into the correspondingbenzyl ester p-toluenesulfonates 1a-6a. The benzylationof 7 was accomplished in the same manner but in thepresence of more p-toluenesulfonic acid (0.11 mol) to givethe di-p-toluenesulfonate 7a as a white solid. The p-toluenesulfonate8a separated at the end of the reaction as anoil; instead of adding ethyl acetate, the supernatant wasremoved, the oily phase was washed with cyclohexane andthen poured into dichloromethane/aqueous Na2CO3. Afterremoving the water layer and evaporating dichloromethane, the residue was treated with hydrochloric methanol to give the corresponding hydrochloride as a white solid. Thebenzylation of 9 was prolonged over night and, at the endof the reaction, 9a separated as an oil, which was pouredinto dichloromethane/water. After removing the organiclayer, the water phase was made alkaline with NaHCO3 andextracted with ethyl acetate. The organic extract was concentratedto a small volume and a slight excess of p-toluenesulfonicacid was added to precipitate 9a as a white crystallinesolid.General procedure: A mixture of L-valine (1.00 g, 8.53 mmol), cyclohexylmethanol (3.67 mL, 29.87 mmol) and p-TsOH.H2O (1.948 g, 10.24 mmol) in 15.0 mL of toluene were heated to reflux using a Dean-Stark apparatus for 24 hours. Next, the reaction mixture was allowed to cool to room temperature and the solvent was evaporated. The viscous oil thus obtained was placed under high vacuum pump for several hours and recrystalized using 5% hexane in EtOAc to afford 2.985 g (7.74 mmol) of creamy white amorphous solid as a product. The crude product thus obtained was used directly for next step without further purification or characterization.