Rapid Conventional and Microwave-Assisted Decarboxylation of L-Histidine and Other Amino Acids via Organocatalysis with R-Carvone Under Superheated Conditions

This article reports a new methodology taking advantage of superheated chemistry via either microwave or conventional heating for the facile decarboxylation of alpha amino acids using the recoverable organocatalyst, R-carvone. The decarboxylation of amino acids is an important synthetic route to biologically active amines, and traditional methods of amino acid decarboxylation are time consuming (taking up to several days in the case of L-histidine), are narrow in scope, and make use of toxic catalysts. Decarboxylations of amino acids including L-histidine occur in just minutes while replacing toxic catalysts with green catalyst, spearmint oil. Yields are comparable to or exceed previous methods and purification of product ammonium chloride salts is aided by an isomerization reaction of residual catalyst to phenolic carvacrol. The method has been shown to be effective for the decarboxylations of a range of natural, synthetic, and protected amino acids.