Dimethyl Disulfide → 3-Methylthio-4-hydroxy-5-benzyloxybenzaldehyde

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

A five liter flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer was charged with 100 g of 3-Bromo-4-hydroxy-5-benzyloxybenzaldehyde 80 g Cu powder, 80 mL methyldisulfide and 5 L pyridine, and the mixture was heated at 90° C. overnight with gentle stirring. The following day, the reaction mixture was filtered and most of the pyridine (1.3 L) was distilled off. The remaining solid residue was washed with about 2 L of methylene chloride and combined with the residue left after pyridine evaporation. The combined organic fraction was washed with 1.5N HCl until the dark methylene chloride layer turned light brown and the aqueous layer was clear. The resulting light brown methylene chloride layer was dried over MgSO4 and filtered through a bed of silica gel. Evaporation and crystallization from methylene chloride-hexane gave the title compound: NMR(200 MHz, CDCl3) δ 2.50 (t, SCH3), 5.20(s, OCH2Ar), 6.72(s, OH), 7.34-7.46(m, ArH), 9.78(s, ArCHO).

Provenance & Evidence