Ethanol → Ethyl 4-(phenylmethoxy)benzoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Sodium hydride (4.8g. of 50% suspension in oil) was added to a solution of ethyl p-hydroxybenzoate (166g.) in dimethylformamide (1 l). Benzyl chloride (126 g.) was added dropwise to the solution and the mixture heated on a steam bath for 2 hours. The solution was allowed to cool and ethanol (100 mls.) was added and the mixture poured into water (3 l) and then extracted with chloroform. The organic layer was dried (anhydrous MgSO4), filtered and the solvent removed under high vacuum. The resulting crude product was recrystallized from ethanol to yield pure 4-ethoxycarbonylphenoxyphenyl methane (154.2g.), b.pt. 172°-3° at 10mm Hg.

Provenance & Evidence