1-Boc-Pyrrolidine is a chemical you run into in many synthesis labs and chemical plants. This compound carries the full name tert-Butoxycarbonyl pyrrolidine, and folks working in pharmaceuticals or fine chemicals know it for its practical utility. It comes with the CAS number 79915-74-9. If you break down its appearance, you get a solid substance, usually found as white to off-white flakes or crystalline powder. Its molecular formula is C9H17NO2, and the structure reflects a five-membered ring with a tert-butoxycarbonyl protecting group tagged onto the nitrogen.
The bulk of 1-Boc-Pyrrolidine used in labs across the world shows up as a crystalline substance, solid at room temperature. The density sits around 1.07 g/cm3, making it fairly easy to weigh and handle. If you rub a pinch of it between your fingers (not recommended without gloves), you’d feel that signature flaky, powdery texture common to protected amines. Some batches come in pearl-like granules, and larger orders may get packed as dense flakes for safer shipping. The melting point hovers close to 40–44°C, so you want to keep it somewhere cool and dry, away from direct sunlight or hot surfaces. It doesn’t release much odor and dissolves decently in the usual array of organic solvents—ethyl acetate, dichloromethane, chloroform. It stays dry and stable if kept sealed up, but any spill in the lab needs a quick sweep, since powders tend to fly and settle everywhere.
The backbone of this compound is the pyrrolidine ring—a five-membered heterocycle. The Boc (tert-butoxycarbonyl) group tacks onto the nitrogen, acting as a shield, making the molecule less reactive in many common conditions. This feature, more than anything, explains why chemists reach for it during multi-step syntheses. The protective nature of the Boc group means you don’t need to worry about unwanted side reactions gumming up your workflow. That matters, especially in pharmaceutical work where each intermediate step needs crisp, clean selectivity. The structure responds to acidic conditions with Boc deprotection, which unlocks the parent pyrrolidine for further modification or reaction.
This compound serves as a building block. People use it when they want to block the nitrogen of pyrrolidine and do chemistry elsewhere on the ring. Anyone making complex molecules—pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals, specialty polymers—probably bumps into it at some step. 1-Boc-Pyrrolidine works well as a raw material because the Boc group protects the amine during tough reactions and then gets removed under mild acidic conditions without shredding the rest of the molecule. That kind of flexibility opens up a lot of routes for synthetic organic chemists, both in industry and at the research bench.
Purity sits high on the list for any buyer; most reputable suppliers offer 1-Boc-Pyrrolidine at 98% or better. Moisture content matters too, since water in the raw powder can shift the chemistry. You’ll find project specs calling for the solid form, listed by weight in grams, kilograms, or even metric tons for larger process plants. Packaging keeps out both air and moisture. Often bagged or jarred in double-sealed plastic with desiccant pouches, it fights off degradation on the shelf. The HS Code for international trade stands as 2933990090, grouping it with other heterocyclic compounds.
No one in the lab treats even seemingly harmless powders lightly, and 1-Boc-Pyrrolidine is no exception. Though not listed as highly toxic, it can irritate skin, eyes, and airways. Gloves, goggles, and lab coats make up the basic precautions. There’s always a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) stuffed in every shipment, laying out what to do in the rare event of a spill or exposure. Chemical waste rules insist you keep this out of the drain or regular trash; proper disposal goes through a chemical waste handler. The compound breaks down under strong acid or base, so accidental mixing with cleaning supplies or process streams can lead to hazards. Labels warn of the risk; in practice, careful storage in dry, cool cabinets minimizes trouble. Fire risk sits low, though any organic solid poses some danger if you heap enough heat on it.
Working with protected pyrrolidines saves research teams and process chemists real time and money. The Boc group stands up to a lot of reaction conditions, then strips off clean when the time comes. This makes it an ideal candidate for scale-up from gram amounts in a lab to kilogram amounts in commercial manufacturing. Properties like solid, stable, and low odor may seem basic, but they translate to less hassle, easier weighing, and more accurate results. When you’re running a big project, you notice the small differences in safety, cost, and cleanup that a material’s physical form brings. I remember using sticky or oily raw materials—what a pain compared to clean, free-flowing crystals. It’s no wonder 1-Boc-Pyrrolidine crops up so often in new patents and pharmaceutical preparations.
One real-world issue comes down to product purity. Even a small spike of water or other amines in a batch can throw off a whole synthesis run, wrecking yields and racking up cost. Routine use of high-quality suppliers helps, and tight in-house QC checks catch most problems early. Since the compound can shed its Boc group with acid, accidental spills in areas cleaned with acidic agents risk starting a reaction—even if the risk is small, it’s better to keep storage areas separate. For anyone shipping or storing large amounts, adding humidity indicators and keeping containers double-sealed pay off. At the end of the chemical’s life cycle, waste handling matters just as much. In my experience, careful planning for storage and disposal beats scrambling to fix problems after they crop up.
- Compound: 1-Boc-Pyrrolidine
- Formula: C9H17NO2
- Appearance: White/off-white solid, powder, flakes, or crystalline material
- Density: ~1.07 g/cm3
- HS Code: 2933990090
- Common uses: raw material, intermediate for pharmaceuticals and specialty chemicals
- Handling: Use gloves, goggles, ventilated workspace, dry and cool storage
- Hazards: Irritation on contact, decomposition under strong acid/base, proper chemical waste disposal needed
- Melting Point: 40–44°C
Raw materials like this power a bigger slice of chemical industry than most people realize; it’s this kind of workhorse compound that keeps many modern syntheses rolling.
