Here's a question for you: If styrene/vinylbenzene/phenylethene were subjected to the Ritter Reaction with acetonitrile, what would the product be?
Would it be N-acetyl-phenethylamine? Or would it be N-acetyl-1-methylbenzylamine?
Basically it boils down to which carbon of the ethylene that the nitrogen is going to bond to: the benzyl carbon or the terminal carbon?
I know that for phenylpropenes it bonds to the middle carbon, which corresponds to the terminal carbon of styrene, the desired carbon. But without the third carbon, I can't accurately guess which one it's going to attach to, if the Ritter Reaction is even successful on said compound at all.
It'd be kind of nice to have a way to go from styrene to PEA in one pot, from the ritter reaction, followed by basic hydrolysis of the acetyl group before purification of the (hopefully) formed PEA.
Thanks for your answers.
PrimoPyro
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