Process For Production of Aralkyloxypyrrolidine Derivative

A process for producing a 3-aralkyloxypyrrolidine derivative (2) characterized by improving a chemical purity by a series of operations of:

• A) treating an aqueous layer with a base after removing an organic layer from a two-phase mixture of water and an organic solvent containing a 3-aralkyloxypyrrolidine derivative;
• B) extracting a free amine of the 3-aralkyloxypyrrolidine derivative (2) using an organic solvent;
• and
• C) treating the free amine with an acid to convert to a 3-aralkyloxypyrrolidine derivative (2), the 3-aralkyloxypyrrolidine derivative represented by the following general formula (2):
• wherein R represents an aralkyl group having 7 to 15 carbon atoms which may have a substituent;
• and HX represents a mineral acid, sulfonic acid, carboxylic acid or amino acid.

A process for producing N-protected-3-aralkyloxypyrrolidine represented by the general formula (1) characterized by O-aralkylation of a N-protected-3-hydroxypyrrolidine represented by the general formula (5) by allowing an aralkyl halide to act in the presence of a base and at least one of a metal halide and a phase-transfer catalyst:

• wherein P represents a protecting group of an amino group;
• and
• wherein R represents an aralkyl group having 7 to 15 carbon atoms which may have a substituent;
• and P represents the same as above.