Abstract
The reaction of chloroform with liq. ammonia in a sealed vessel at high temperatures furnished adenine, purine, and 8-aminopurine in 5, 7 and 1% yields, respectively. Similarly, the reaction between ethyl orthoformate and liq. ammonia yielded adenine (21%), purine (14%) and 8-aminopurine (3%), A possible mechanism has been proposed for the reaction, which involves a polymerization of formimidoyl derivative rather than an intermediary formation of aminomalononitrile.
