Benzene → 1-Phenyl-1,4-pentanedione

To a well stirred suspension of anhydrous aluminium chloride (27.0 g, 205.9 mmol) in 126 ml of benzene was added 4-oxopentanoylchloride (23.0 g, 171.6 mmol) drop-wise, over a period of 30-35 minutes at room temperature (25-30° C.). The reaction mixture was stirred at the same temperature for 1 hour. After decomposition of the reaction mixture by the addition of solid ice and hydrochloric acid (10 ml) the precipitated solid was filtered and the filtrate evaporated on a rotary evaporator to remove all the solvents. The residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate (400 ml), washed with water (2×100 ml), brine (100 ml) and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and the solvent evaporated off. The crude product so obtained was chromatographed over silica gel (100-200 mesh) using chloroform as eluent to give 8.6 g (24.07%) of the title compound.