2-Mercaptoethanol → 1,3-Oxathiolane-2-methanol, 2-benzoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a 5-L, three-necked, round-bottomed flask fitted with a mechanical stirrer, a Dean-Stark apparatus, and a glass stopper is added 2-(benzoyloxy)acetaldehyde diethyl acetal (0.469 mol, 111.85 g, 1.0 equiv.), 2-mercaptoethanol (0.516 mol, 40.34 g, 1.1 equiv.), para-toluenesulfonic acid monohydrate (0.047 mol, 8.92 g, 0.1 equiv.) and toluene (3.5 L). The reaction was heated to reflux and stirred while monitoring progress by TLC. When determined to be complete, the reaction was allowed to cool to ambient temperature before washing with saturated sodium bicarbonate solution. The organic phase was dried over magnesium sulfate and concentrated by rotary evaporation to give (+/−)-2-(benzoyloxymethyl)-1,3-oxathiolane as an oil (95.75 g, 90.9% yield). The crude product was advanced to the next reaction step without further purification.

Provenance & Evidence