Benzyl Bromide → 4-Benzyloxy-6-fluoro-3-methyl-naphthalene-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a solution of 6-fluoro-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-naphthalene-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester (21.7 g, 92.7 mmol) in dry DMF (250 mL) was added K2CO3 (17.9 g, 130 mmol), benzyl bromide (13 mL, 111 mmol) and Bu4NI (0.250 g) at room temperature under nitrogen. The reaction mixture was stirred for 3 hours at room temperature. The reaction mixture was diluted with water and extracted with ethyl acetate. The combined organic extracts were washed with water, brine, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated to give the crude product, which was purified using silica gel column chromatography (2-5% ethyl acetate-hexane) to yield 4-benzyloxy-6-fluoro-3-methyl-naphthalene-2-carboxylic acid methyl ester (25.4 g, 84%) as an off-white solid. MS cald. for C20H18FO3 [(M+H)+]: 325, obsd. 325.1.

Provenance & Evidence