Lewis Acid-Catalyzed Racemization and Recycling of the Undesired (R)‑Ketamine

• Published in: Organic process research & development Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. 301 - 305
• Main Authors: Gao, Shenghua, Gao, Xuezhi, Li, Houyong, Yang, Anjiang, Yang, Zhezhou, Zhang, Fuli
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 21.02.2020
• Subjects: Lewis acid; racemization; ketamine; NMDA receptor antagonist

The first detailed description of the Lewis acid-catalyzed racemization of (R)-ketamine is reported. A process for racemization of the undesired (R)-ketamine enantiomer produced from the resolution for preparing the NMDA receptor antagonist (S)-ketamine was developed in quantitative yield with 99% c...