is it BzP?

[alphacentauri]

I see from an online catalogue of chemicals supply firm this item:

Descrizione: 1-BENZILPIPERAZINA PER SINTESI ML 25
Codice:  8418020025
Produttore:  MERCK O ALTRO PRODUTTORE
Prezzo:  29.89   (i prezzi si intendono I.V.A. 20% esclusa)


Is this the famous BzP? And for synthesis? I thought it was the END of a synth process, not the BEGINNING!!!
And what is used for that stuff in synthetic chemistry?

[Rhodium]

Yes, that is the infamous 1-Benzylpiperazine.

In synthetic organic chemistry when you want to introduce a piperazine group somewhere, for example by reacting it with propenoic acid to get 3-(N-piperazinyl)-propanoic acid, you cannot simply mix piperazine with the acid, as it would add to both nitrogens, as the molecule is symmetric.

By instead starting with 1-Benzylpiperazine, add the acid to the free nitrogen, and finally remove the benzyl group by catalytic hydrogenolysis, the end product is 3-(N-piperazinyl)-propanoic acid without any contamination of the disubstituted analog.