1. Procedure
(S)-2-Chloropropanoic acid. In a 4-L, three-necked, round-bottomed flask equipped with a
mechanical stirrer, a 500-mL dropping funnel, and a two-necked adapter fitted with a thermometer and a
reflux condenser (Note 1), 89.1 g (1 mol) of (S)-alanine (Note 2) is dissolved in 1300 mL of 5 N
hydrochloric acid (Note 3). The mixture is cooled to 0°C in an ice/sodium chloride bath (Note 4) and a
precooled solution of 110 g (1.6 mol) of sodium nitrite in 400 mL of water is added dropwise at a rate of
about 2 mL/min under vigorous stirring and efficient cooling so that the temperature of the reaction
mixture is kept below 5°C. After 5 hr, the bath is removed and the reaction is allowed to stand overnight
at room temperature (Note 5). The reflux condenser is connected with a water aspirator and the flask is
carefully evacuated with stirring for 3 hr to remove nitrogen oxides, whereupon the color changes from
yellowish brown to pale yellow. While the mixture is stirred vigorously, 100 g of solid sodium
carbonate is added carefully in small portions so as to prevent excessive foaming. The reaction mixture
is extracted with four portions of 400 mL of diethyl ether. The combined ether layers are concentrated
to ca. 300 mL using a rotary evaporator at atmospheric pressure. The solution is washed with 50 mL of
saturated brine, which thereafter is reextracted with three portions of 100 mL of diethyl ether. The
combined ethereal solutions are dried for 10 hr over calcium chloride. The ether is distilled off with a
rotary evaporator at atmospheric pressure (bath temperature 40–50°C). The oily residue is transferred
into a distillation flask (rinsing the remainder with small portions of ether) and then fractionally distilled
at reduced pressure, the main fraction boiling within a range of 2–3°C (i.e., bp 75–77°C at 10 mm)
(Note 6) to give 63–71 g (58–65%) of an oil. The colorless oil is sufficiently pure for most purposes
(Note 7) and (Note

. On prolonged standing in a refrigerator, the oil tends to solidify partially or
totally, but the white crystals formed have no sharp melting point. This procedure can be employed for
other a-amino acids (see Table I and the Discussion).