Manufacture of phenyl ethylamine compounds, in particular venlafaxine

Abstract

A process for the preparation of hydroxy(cycloalkane/cyclokene) phenylethyl amine of the general formula (III) comprising alkylation of its precursor amine of general formula (II) which is in turn produced by an effective reduction process from its precursor cyanide having the general formula (I) using Raney Nickel (CORMIII) as catalyst where, either of R5 and R6 independently could be in meta or para position and R5, R6 are independently hydrogen, hydroxyl, alkyl, alkanoyloxy, cyano, nitro, alkylmercapto, amino, alkylamino, allkanamido, halo, trifluoromethyl, or taken together methylenedioxy, n is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, R7 is hydrogen of alkyl of 1–7 carbon atom, R1 IH or alkyl of 1–3 carbon atom and R2 is alkyl 1–3 carbon atom, the dotted line represents optional unsaturation. Compounds of formulae IV, V and VI are respectively derivatives of compounds I, II and III respectively.