Syntheses and characterization of 2‐hydroxy‐N‐(2′‐hydroxyalkyl)acetamides

The reaction of glycolic acid 1 with some β‐aminoalcohols 2–8 without solvent, with temperature and time controlled, led to the syntheses of2‐hydroxy‐N‐(2′‐hydroxyalkyl)acetamides 9–15. All compounds studied in this work were characterized by ¹H, ¹³C, and ¹⁵N NMR, infrared, and mass spectroscopy. The structure of compound 13 was established by a single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction study. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Heteroatom Chem 10: 153–158, 1999