Mustard Carbonate Analogues as Sustainable Reagents for the Aminoalkylation of Phenols

N,N-dialkyl ethylamine moiety can be found in numerous scaffolds of macromolecules, catalysts, and especially pharmaceuticals. Common synthetic procedures for its incorporation in a substrate relies on the use of a nitrogen mustard gas or on multistep syntheses featuring chlorine hazardous/toxic chemistry. Reported herein is a one-pot synthetic approach for the easy introduction of aminoalkyl chain into different phenolic substrates through dialkyl carbonate (β-aminocarbonate) chemistry. This new direct alcohol substitution avoids the use of chlorine chemistry, and it is efficient on numerous pharmacophore scaffolds with good to quantitative yield. The cytotoxicity via MTT of the β-aminocarbonate, key intermediate of this synthetic approach, was also evaluated and compared with its alcohol precursor.