Photo-On-Demand Synthesis of α-Amino Acid N -Carboxyanhydrides with Chloroform.

Amino acid N -carboxyanhydrides (NCAs) are conventionally synthesized from α-amino acids and phosgene. The present study reports in situ photo-on-demand phosgenation reactions of amino acids with CHCl 3 for synthesizing NCAs. A series of NCAs were obtained on a gram scale upon photo-irradiation of a mixture solution of CHCl 3 and CH 3 CN containing an amino acid at 60-70 °C under O 2 bubbling. This method presents a safe and convenient reaction controlled by light without special apparatuses and reagents.