A Mild Synthesis of 13C-Methanol

The formation of oxazolidinon-2-ones from amino alcohols and carbon dioxide is well known. Until now it was not possible to reduce the fixed carbon dioxide to any basic chemical like formaldehyde or methanol, only the less interesting N-methyl compounds were formed with lithium aluminium hydride. Here we show the reduction of a oxazolidin-2-one derivative to methanol and the corresponding sulfone amide after introducing a sulfone group at the nitrogen. With selective labelling of the carbonyl carbon it was possible to produce 13C-labelled methanol.