Water → Benzenebutanol

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a stirred suspension of 7.9 g (0.21 mole) of lithium aluminum hydride (Aldrich) in 350 ml of dry ethyl ether was added dropwise a solution of 32.8 g (0.2 mole) of 4-phenylbutyric acid (Aldrich) in 250 ml of dry ethyl ether. The reaction mixture was stirred at ambient temperature for 2 hr, treated successively with 8 ml of water, 25 ml of a 15% sodium hydroxide solution and 8 ml of water, and filtered through Celite®. The filtrate was washed successively with water (200 ml), twice with 300 ml portions of sodium bicarbonate solution, 300 ml of water and dried over magnesium sulfate. The solvent was evaporated under reduced pressure to give 25.0 g (83%) of colorless oil.

Provenance & Evidence