ABSTRACT
An improved process for the synthesis of sufentanil with an overall yield of 26% is described. The reactive and high yielding N-debenzylation of the piperidine intermediate 7 using a mixture of Pd/C and Pd(OH)(2) was applied to other drug intermediates affording free amines in short reaction times. The deuterium-labeled sufentanil and the metabolite desmethylsufentanil were synthesized applying the optimized process.
Subject(s)
Analgesics/chemical synthesis , Sufentanil/analogs & derivatives , Sufentanil/chemical synthesis , Analgesics/chemistry , Analgesics/metabolism , Molecular Structure , Palladium/chemistry , Sufentanil/chemistryABSTRACT
Sufentanil, a potent anilidopiperidine analgesic, was synthesized from a simple thiophenylethylamine via six step sequence. The key parts of this synthesis involved an efficient construction of thiophenylethylpiperidone by aminomethano desilylation-cyclization followed by Swern oxidation and a direct regioselective N-nucleophilic spiral epoxide cleavage with aniline promoted by Lewis acids.
