Abstract: In this paper, ethylenediamine-tetra-acetate diester of α, δ-(2-methyl-5-nitroimidazole-1-ethanol ) (EDTA-2MN) is synthesized from ethylenediamine-tetra-acetic acid anhydride (EDTAA) and 2-methyl-5-nitroimidazole-1-ethanol (metronidazole，MN) by microwave irradiation method. Based on the designed orthogonal experiment, the effects of the molar ratio of the reactants, reaction time and reaction temperature on the yield are investigated. The results indicate that the yield is more than 80% under the reaction condition as follows: the molar ratio of EDTAA to MN is 1∶2.5, the reaction time is 30 minutes and the reaction temperature is 110 ℃. Compared with the conventional method of esterification reaction, the distinct advantages of the microwave irradiation method are short reaction time, high yield and good repeatability. And the structure of the product is characterized by FT-IR, 1HNMR, MS and elemental analysis.

Key words: microwave radiation; ethylenediamine-tetra-acetic acid; nitroimidazole; esterification reaction