A Method to Prepare Glufosinate by Hydantion

[Aims] A new route to synthesize glufosinate was developed.[Methods] A mixture of diethyl methylphosphonate and 5-(bromoethyl)hydantion was stirred in toluene at 100 °C for 5 h to give 5-(2-(methylethoxyphosphinyl)erhyl)hydantoin,followed by hydrolysis with Ba(OH)2 for 30 h to afford the glufosinate.[Results] The method has strong practicability and total yield is 81.2%.[Conclusions] The new method avoid the use of NaCN and has some advantages of simple and safe operation,little waste and high purity of the product.