Sodium Hydroxide → 2-Cyclopropyl-6-methylphenol

A magnetic stirrer bar was attached to a 1 L round bottom flask. 2-Cyclopropyl-6-methylphenyl acetate (32.5 g), methanol (90 ml) and an aqueous 4M NaOH solution (90 ml) were added thereto, and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 2 hours. After most of methanol was removed by concentration, the obtained mixture was cooled in ice-water and water (500 ml) and 4M hydrochloric acid (120 ml) were added thereto, followed by stirring of the mixture. This was extracted with a 10% ethyl acetate-90% hexane (V/V) solvent mixture (3×200 ml). The organic layer was combined and successively washed with water (3×200 ml) and a saturated aqueous NaCl solution (200 ml), followed by drying with anhydrous sodium sulfate. After the solid was removed by filtration, the filtrate was concentrated to obtain 27.09 g (purity: 54.6%) of a crude product of 2-cyclopropyl-6-methylphenol.