In
situ IR was used to precisely prepare high-purity diphenylmethyl
6α-bromopenicillanate 8, a key intermediate of
tazobactam. 8 was obtained when 6α-bromopenicillanic
acid 2 reacted with diphenyldiazomethane (DDM). 2 is unstable and must therefore react immediately with DDM
upon preparation. DDM is also unstable. As DDM decomposes rapidly
upon preparation, the DDM content cannot be precisely determined using
high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or gas chromatography
(GC). Therefore, good yield and purity are difficult to obtain, resulting
in large batch-to-batch variations (yield 69.3–82.8%, purity
89.8–98.4%) for 8. The developed preparation method
for 8 involved the use of in situ IR to monitor the reaction
process and achieved good results (82.7–83.1% yield and 97.3–98.5%
purity). This method was also used to prepare the key intermediate
for the synthesis of cephalosporin derivatives, which have high industrial
value.