Synthesis of 5-aminolevulinic acid with nontoxic regents and renewable methyl levulinate.

Synthesis of 5-aminolevulinic acid (5-ALA) was presented with novel bromination of biobased methyl levulinate (ML), followed by ammoniation and hydrolysis. Copper bromide (CuBr 2 ) was employed as the bromination reagent with higher selectivity and activity instead of the conventional liquid bromine (Br 2 ). 5-ALA was obtained in a high yield (64%) and purity (>95%) by optimum design, which is of great potential in industrialization.