1-Phenylethanol → Butanoic acid, 3-oxo-, 1-phenylethyl ester

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

In this example, procedure of transestrification of methyl acetoacetate with 1-phenyl ethanol is described. A mixture of 1 equivalent of methyl acetoacetate, 1 equivalent of 1-phenyl ethanol and 100 mg of sulfated tin oxide catalyst in 20 ml of toluene was heated to 110° C. in a two necked round bottom flask provided with a distillation condenser to remove methanol. The reaction was monitored by thin layer chromatography (TLC). After completion of the reaction (about 6 hours), the catalyst was filtered and the filtrate was concentrated and chromatographed on a silica gel column (95% petroleum ether and 5% ethyl acetate) to afford 1-phenylethyl acetoacetate as a viscous colorless liquid in 97% yield.

Provenance & Evidence