Dimethylformamide → Benzyloxyacetaldehyde diethyl acetal

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a 2-L, three-necked, round-bottomed flask fitted with a mechanical stirrer, a reflux condenser and a glass stopper is added sodium benzoate (0.579 mol, 83.44 g, 1.1 equiv.), bromoacetaldehyde diethyl acetal (0.526 mol, 103.74 g, 1.0 equiv.) and N,N-dimethylformamide (1.0 L). The reaction was heated to reflux and stirred while monitoring progress by thin layer chromatography (TLC). When determined to be complete, the reaction was allowed to cool to ambient temperature and diluted with water (2.0 L). The product was extracted with methyl tert-butyl ether. The organic phase was dried over magnesium sulfate and concentrated by rotary evaporation to give 2-(benzyloxy)acetaldehyde diethyl acetal (111.85 g, 81.1% yield). The crude product was advanced to the next reaction step without further purification.

Provenance & Evidence