Provided herein are methods and intermediates for making (1R,2R,5R)-5-amino-2-methylcyclohexanol hydrochloride, which are useful for the preparation of compounds useful for the treatment of a disease, disorder, or condition associated with the JNK pathway.

Provided herein are methods and intermediates for making (1R,2R,5R)-5-amino-2-methylcyclohexanol hydrochloride, which are useful for the preparation of compounds useful for the treatment of a disease, disorder, or condition associated with the JNK pathway.

A process for preparing an aromatic polyamine mixture including 4,4-methylenedi(phenylamine) and higher homologues of MDA is provided. The process includes steps of (i) reaction of aniline with formaldehyde by means of an acid catalyst to form a crude product mixture (I), (ii) neutralization of the crude product mixture (I) and removal of the salts formed; (iii) isolation of aniline; (iv) distillation of the resulting crude product mixture so as to separate off (iv-1) a mixture (II) of MDA isomers (II-1) containing from 8 to 20% by weight of 4,4-methylenedi(phenylamine) and not more than 0.3% by weight of secondary components (II-2) and (iv-2) a low boiler mixture of at least 55% by weight of secondary components (II-2) and MDA isomers (II-1); and (v) recirculation of the mixture (II).

A process for preparing an aromatic polyamine mixture including 4,4-methylenedi(phenylamine) and higher homologues of MDA is provided. The process includes steps of (i) reaction of aniline with formaldehyde by means of an acid catalyst to form a crude product mixture (I), (ii) neutralization of the crude product mixture (I) and removal of the salts formed; (iii) isolation of aniline; (iv) distillation of the resulting crude product mixture so as to separate off (iv-1) a mixture (II) of MDA isomers (II-1) containing from 8 to 20% by weight of 4,4-methylenedi(phenylamine) and not more than 0.3% by weight of secondary components (II-2) and (iv-2) a low boiler mixture of at least 55% by weight of secondary components (II-2) and MDA isomers (II-1); and (v) recirculation of the mixture (II).

Provided herein are methods and intermediates for making (1R,2R,5R)-5-amino-2-methylcyclohexanol hydrochloride, which are useful for the preparation of compounds useful for the treatment of a disease, disorder, or condition associated with the JNK pathway.

Provided herein are methods and intermediates for making (1R,2R,5R)-5-amino-2-methylcyclohexanol hydrochloride, which are useful for the preparation of compounds useful for the treatment of a disease, disorder, or condition associated with the JNK pathway.

Provided herein are methods and intermediates for making (1R,2R,5R)-5-amino-2-methylcyclohexanol hydrochloride, which are useful for the preparation of compounds useful for the treatment of a disease, disorder, or condition associated with the JNK pathway.

The present invention provides a method for isomerizing a cyclohexanediamine, which simply and highly actively realizes an isomerization reaction of a cyclohexanediamine, without passing through a high-pressure reaction and a complicated multi-stage process. The isomerization method has an isomerization step of isomerizing a cyclohexanediamine in the presence of a compound represented by the following formula (1) and at least one selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal, an alkali metal-containing compound, an alkaline earth metal or an alkaline earth metal-containing compound. ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a monovalent group selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkoxy group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryloxy group and an acyl group (R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 may mutually bind to form a ring); R.sup.3 represents a hydrogen atom and an n-valent group selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon group; and n represents, an integer of 1 to 10.

The present invention provides a method for isomerizing a cyclohexanediamine, which simply and highly actively realizes an isomerization reaction of a cyclohexanediamine, without passing through a high-pressure reaction and a complicated multi-stage process. The isomerization method has an isomerization step of isomerizing a cyclohexanediamine in the presence of a compound represented by the following formula (1) and at least one selected from the group consisting of an alkali metal, an alkali metal-containing compound, an alkaline earth metal or an alkaline earth metal-containing compound. ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom or a monovalent group selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon group, a substituted or unsubstituted alkoxy group, a substituted or unsubstituted aryloxy group and an acyl group (R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 may mutually bind to form a ring); R.sup.3 represents a hydrogen atom and an n-valent group selected from the group consisting of a substituted or unsubstituted hydrocarbon group; and n represents, an integer of 1 to 10.

A process for preparing trans-enriched MDACH, including: distilling an MDACH starting mixture in the presence of an auxiliary, which is an organic compound having a molar mass of 62 to 500 g/mol, a boiling point at least 5 C. above the boiling point of cis,cis-2,6-diamino-1-methylcyclohexane, and 2 to 4 functional groups, each of which is independently an alcohol group or a primary, secondary or tertiary amino group. The MDACH starting mixture includes 0 to 100% by weight of 2,4-MDACH and 0 to 100% by weight of 2,6-MDACH, based on the total amount of MDACH present in the MDACH starting mixture. The MDACH starting mixture includes both trans and cis isomers. Trans-enriched MDACH includes 0 to 100% by weight of 2,4-MDACH and 0 to 100% by weight of 2,6-MDACH, where the proportion of trans isomers in the mixture is higher than the proportion of trans isomers in the MDACH starting mixture.