The synthesis of fexofenadine

This work proposes a new simple route for fexofenadine synthesis with low cost and easily obtainable raw materials. We use benzene and methallyl as starting reactants, applying steps of Friedel–Crafts alkylation reaction, hydrolysis, oxidation, esterification reaction, and reduction reaction to obtain the intermediate product, followed by N -alkylation reaction to obtain 4-{1-hydroxy-4-[4-(hydroxydiphenyl)-piperidine]butyl}-α,α-dimethylbenzene acetate. Then, the final product fexofenadine is obtained upon hydrolysis. In the synthesis process, we constantly optimize the reaction conditions such as reaction time, reaction temperature, solvent selection, and other factors, thus improving the final yield of the target product fexofenadine to 33.51 %.