Potassium Carbonate → (3-Fluoro-4-formylphenoxy)methyl butyrate

To a 500 mL dry round bottom flask a were added 2-fluoro-4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (5.60 g, 40 mmol), anhydrous K2CO3 (10.6 g, 76.9 mmol) and acetone (200 mL). The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes. To another 500 mL dry round bottom flash b were added chloromethyl butyrate (9.33 g, 61.5 mmol), KI (14.2 g, 66.6 mmol) and acetone (150 mL). This mixture was also stirred at room temperature for 30 minutes. After the solid settled down on the glassware bottom, the top yellow acetone solution in flask b was decanted into the stirring solution in the round bottom flask a. The resulting mixture was refluxed for 4 hours. Most acetone was rotary evaporated, and the residual solid was triturated with methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE) three times (100 mL, 50 mL, 50 mL). The MTBE extract was concentrated, and the residue was purified with a silica gel chromatography (heptane/ethyl acetate, gradient eluting) to give (3-fluoro-4-formylphenoxy)methyl butyrate (6.40 g) as a colorless oil. Yield: 43%. 1H NMR (CDCl3, 300 MHz): δ=10.18 (s, 1H), 7.80 (t, J=8.7 Hz, 1H), 6.93-6.89 (m, 1H), 6.82 (dd, J=12.3, 2.1 Hz, 1H), 5.83 (s, 2H), 2.36 (t, J=7.5 Hz, 2H), 1.64 (sextet, J=7.5 Hz, 2H), 0.92 (t, J=7.5 Hz, 3H). 13C NMR (CDCl3, 75.5 MHz): δ=185.5 (d, J=6.1 Hz), 169.7 (d, J=258.8 Hz), 162.8 (d, J=12.2 Hz), 130.2 (d, J=3.7 Hz), 119.1 (d, J=8.5Hz), 112.4 (d, J=3.1 Hz), 103.5 (d, J=24.4 Hz), 84.1, 35.7, 18.0, 13.3.