Alkylation by secondary alcohols III: Fusion of medicinal sulfanilamides with benzhydrol.

The fusion of certain sulfanilamides with benzhydrol in the presence of anhydrous zinc chloride affords several different products, depending primarily on the temperature at which the reaction is carried out. With sulfanilamide itself, three different products were isolated at 100, 160, and 180 degrees. A sequence of steps is suggested to account for the three products, one of which involves an intramolecular rearrangement of a benzhydryl moiety. The fusion of benzhydrol with p-toludine gives 2,6-dibenzhydrylaniline and not the N,N-dibenzhydryl derivative as previously reported.