I am looking for a nudge in the right direction (not so much an answer) as to how to react 1,4-cyclohexanedione to produce the product as seen in the attached image. I am stuck due to the symmetry of the starting material. Am I overthinking it? Thank you

enter image source here

1 Answer
anor277
Mar 18, 2018

I think you could be overthinking it mate....

Explanation:

You got TWO carbonyls in the SYMMETRIC starting material. You protect ONE with ONE EQUIV of the dialcohol (the which I think you have represented improperly). With that accomplished you react the OTHER carbonyl with an amine to form the imine. I would post some pictures, but I ain't got ChemDraw available....

Related questions
Impact of this question
1227 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License