Synthesis and study of the stability of amidinium/guanidinium carbamates of amines and α-amino acids

Thermally stable amidinium/guanidinium N,N-dialkylcarbamates, including vacuum stable compounds, have been prepared, and then isolated in the solid state, by reaction of tetramethylguanidine (TMG) or 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) with secondary amines under atmospheric pressure of CO2. The same method has been successfully applied to a-amino acids, thus the corresponding carbamates of sarcosine, L-proline and L-phenylalanine have been obtained. All the products are highly moisture sensitive, and have been characterized by analytical and spectroscopic (IR, multinuclear NMR) techniques.