Isopropyl iodide → Methyl 4-isopropoxy-3-methylbenzoate

Temperature

60 °C

To methyl 4-hydroxy-3-methyl-benzoate (1.0 g, 59.8 mmol) in dry DMF (62 mL) was added finely ground potassium carbonate (33.1 g, 239.3 mmol) followed by 2-iodopropane (20.3 g, 12.0 mL, 119.6 mmol). The reaction mixture was heated at 60° C. for 2 hours. The reaction mixture was cooled and diluted with ether (350 mL), and filtered over celite. The filtrate was washed with water (3×100 mL) and brine (100 mL) solution. The layers were separated and organics were dried over MgSO4. The solvent was evaporated and resulting residue was purified by silica gel using 0-30% EtOAc/hexanes mixtures as eluent to give methyl 4-isopropoxy-3-methylbenzoate as a colorless oil (11.2 g, 89%). ESI-MS m/z calc. 208.25. Found 209.2 (M+1)+; Retention time: 1.93 minutes (3 min run). Lithium hydroxide (4.4 g, 181.6 mmol) was added to a solution of methyl 4-isopropoxy-3-methylbenzoate (11.2 g, 53.8 mmol) in tetrahydrofuran (31 mL) and water (31 mL). The mixture was rapidly stirred and heated at 65° C. for 6 hours. The reaction mixture was cooled, diluted with water (75 mL) and extracted with ether (2×50 mL). The aqueous layer was acidified to pH 2 with 6N aq. HCl and extracted with ethyl acetate (4×75 mL). The combined organics were washed with water (75 mL) and brine solution (75 mL) and layers were separated. The organics were dried over MgSO4 and concentrated in vacuo to give 4-isopropoxy-3-methyl-benzoic acid (9.5 g, 82%) as colorless crystals. ESI-MS m/z calc. 194.2. Found 195.3 (M+1)+; Retention time: 1.53 minutes (3 min run). 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO) δ 7.78-7.71 (m, 2H), 7.02 (d, J=8.6 Hz, 1H), 4.70 (dt, J=12.1, 6.0 Hz, 1H), 2.15 (s, 3H), 1.30 (d, J=6.0 Hz, 6H).

1. temperatureThe reaction mixture was cooled
2. filtrationfiltered over celite
3. washThe filtrate was washed with water (3×100 mL) and brine (100 mL) solution
4. customThe layers were separated
5. dry with materialorganics were dried over MgSO4
6. customThe solvent was evaporated
7. customresulting residue
8. customwas purified by silica gel using 0-30% EtOAc/hexanes mixtures as eluent

ORD record

ord-a122b4a965c2475ab3f55890086191e2

Source dataset

uspto-grants-2014_09

DOI

10.6084/m9.figshare.5104873.v1

Patent number

US08828996B2