Acetic Acid → 6-Hydroxy-3,4-dihydro-1(2H)-naphthalenone

Participants

Reaction Steps

A mixture of 50 g of 6-methoxy-1-tetralone, 200 ml of acetic acid and 400 ml of hydrobromic acid (47% HBr) was heated under reflux for 24 hours. After cooling, the reaction mixture was poured into 3 liters of water, solid matter was filtered out, and the resulting filtrate was extracted three times with ethyl acetate. The extracts were washed with an aqueous solution of sodium carbonate, dried over sodium sulfate and evaporated. The resulting residue together with the filtered solid matter was recrystallized from ethyl acetate to yield 40.75 g (89.5% of the theoretical yield) of 6-hydroxy-1-tetralone in the form of reddish-brown crystals melting at 153°-155° C.

Provenance & Evidence