Reactions of (benzamidomethyl)triethylammonium chloride with some inorganic nucleophiles in aqueous media.

A variety of benzamidomethyl derivatives were prepared in water under alkaline conditions (pH>9) via reaction of (benzamidomethyl)triethylammonium chloride (1) with different inorganic nucleophiles. Reaction of 1 with hydroxylamine did not give the expected mono(benzamidomethyl)-hydroxylamine (3) but rather gave N,N- di(benzamidomethyl)hydroxylamine (2). Reactions of 1 with sodium azide and potassium cyanide gave benzamidomethyl azide (4a) and benzamidomethyl cyanide (4b) respectively. Potassium thiocyanate and sodium iodide reacted with 1, and the anion- exchanged products (benzamidomethyl)triethylammonium isothiocyanate (5a) and (benzamidomethyl)triethylammonium iodide (5b) were thus obtained. Cyanamide and potassium cyanate reacted readily with 1 and both gave the same mixture of di(benzamidomethyl)amine (7) and tri(benzamidomethyl)amine (8). All the reactions occurred smoothly, under mild conditions, to give the products in moderate to high yields.