Microwave-Assisted Synthesis of N-Phenylsuccinimide.

A microwave-assisted synthesis of N-phenylsuccinimide has been developed for the second-semester organic teaching laboratory. Utilizing this procedure, N-phenylsuccinimide can be synthesized by heating a mixture of aniline and succinic anhydride in a domestic microwave oven for four minutes in moderate yields (40-60%). This technique reduces the reaction time as compared to the traditional synthesis by several hours, which allows the preparation to be achieved in a single organic chemistry laboratory period. This reaction is performed in the absence of solvent, is energy efficient, and is atom economical; therefore, it represents a "greener" preparation than the traditional synthesis of N-phenylsuccinimide.