Methanol → methyl 2-oxo-4-phenylbut-3-enoate

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Reaction Steps

2 ml of concentrated sulfuric acid are added dropwise to a suspension of 5.9 g (30 mmol) sodium 2-oxo-4-phenylbut-3-enoate (1) (Synth. Commun., (1996), 26(11), 2231) in 100 ml of methanol. The mixture is refluxed for 8 hours and stirred overnight at room temperature. A light insoluble material is filtered off and the filtrate is concentrated to half its volume and poured into 300 ml of water. The pasty solid obtained is extracted with dichloromethane and washed with aqueous 5% sodium hydrogen carbonate solution and then with water. The resulting solution is dried over sodium sulfate. The solvent is evaporated off under vacuum. The residue (4.2 g) is purified by flash chromatography (SiO2, 70/30 CH2Cl2/heptane).

Provenance & Evidence