Patent ID: 7585973

Claim:
A process for producing a folic acid-amide compound comprising: a) reacting an imidazolide represented by the following formula (A): wherein R represents a protecting group for amino acid and is an amino acid protecting group used in peptide synthesis, with γ-lower alkyl L-glutamate in an organic solvent in the presence of an organic base to form a γ-lower alkyl 2-amino-protected folate which is represented by the following formula (B): wherein R has the same definition as in formula (A), and R′ represents a lower alkyl; and b) reacting a γ-lower alkyl 2-amino-protected folate represented by the formula (B) with an amine compound of the following formula (C): R″-L-NH 2 (C) wherein R″ represents amino, and L represents a valence bond, C 1 -C 5 alkylene or an oligo- or poly-(oxyalkylene) of the following formula, —(CH 2 CH(R C )—O—) n CH 2 CH(R C )— wherein R C represents hydrogen or methyl, and n is an integer of from 1-10,000 to produce a folic acid-amide compound of the following formula (D): wherein R has the same definition as in the above formula (A), and L and R″ have the same definitions as in the above formula (C).