The title compound was prepared by the lithiation of
N-methyl-
ortho-toluamide and the alkylation of the resultant lithio derivative with desoxy benzoin, followed by alkaline hydrolysis. The compound crystallizes into monoclinic space group
P2
1/
a with unit-cell parameters
a = 12.689(8),
b = 14.681(13),
c = 18.114(4)Å,
β = 91.37(3)°,
Z = 8. The crystal structure was solved by direct methods and refined to
R = 0.0455 for 3566 observed reflections. There are two crystallographically independent molecules in the asymmetric unit having different conformations of the attached phenyl and benzyl substituent to the
iso-coumarin nucleus. In both molecules, the heterocyclic ring adopts a half-chair conformation. The C-H…O type of intermolecular hydrogen bonds and C-H…π weak interactions stabilize the molecules in the unit cell in addition to the π-π interactions.
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