Phenylacetic Acid → 1-(2-Hydroxy-5-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenylethanone

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

Phenylacetic acid (7.39 g, 54.28 mmoles) was dissolved in 50 ml dichloromethane. To this mixture, oxalylchloride (4.74 ml, 54.28 mmoles) and DMF (3 drops) were added at 0° C. and stirred for 30 min. The solvent was evaporated and dissolved in 30 ml dichloromethane. To this mixture, 4-methoxyanisole (10 g, 53.47 mmoles) was added and cooled to 0° C. At 0° C. AlCl3 (9.63 g, 72.37 mmoles) was added and the reaction mixture was warmed to RT and stirred for 12 h. The reaction mixture was quenched by the addition of 2N HCl and extracted with ethyl acetate, dried over sodium sulphate and concentrated. The crude product was purified by column chromatography with ethyl acetate:petroleum ether to afford the title compound as yellow liquid (4.3 g, 49% yield. 1H-NMR (δ ppm, DMSO-d6, 400 MHz): δ 11.30 (s, 1H), 7.42 (d, J=3.0 Hz, 1H), 7.33-7.21 (m, 5H), 7.17 (dd, J=9.0, 3.1 Hz, 1H), 6.92 (d, J=9.0 Hz, 1H), 4.43 (s, 2H), 3.74 (s, 3H).

Provenance & Evidence