Dichloromethane → Methyl 2-(4-acetylphenoxy)propanoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a solution of the potassium salt of 4-hydroxyacetophenone (8.8 g, 0.05 mol) in dimethylformamide (25 mL) is added methyl 2-bromopropanoate (10.2 g, 0.06 mol) over 30 minutes and stirred at 80°-90° C. for 4 hours under nitrogen. The reaction is cooled to room temperature and methylene chloride (75 mL) and water (75 mL) are added. The organic phase is separated, washed with water (100 mL), dried and concentrated to give methyl 2-(4-acetylphenoxy)propanoate (8.5 g) (yield 76%). Methyl 2-(4-acetylphenoxy)propanoate (7.0 g, 31.5 mmol) is combined with 2N NaOH (20 mL) and refluxed overnight. Water (30 mL) is added to the reaction which is then washed with methylene chloride (50 mL). It is then acidified to pH=1 with concentrated hydrochloric acid and extracted with ethyl acetate (3×100 mL). The organic phase is dried and concentrated to provide 2-(4 -acetylphenoxy)propanoic acid (5.0 g) (yield 92%): m.p. 104.3° C., IR (KBr) 3000 (br, vs), 2940 (br,s), 1754 (vs), 1650 (vs); 1H NMR (CDCl3) delta 1.69 (d, J=6.8 Hz, 3H), 2.55 (s,3H), 4.8 (q, J=6.8 Hz, 1H), 6.92 and 7.93 (dd, J=9.0 Hz, 4H).

Provenance & Evidence