Ethyl benzoate → 1-Phenyl-2-(2-pyridinyl)ethanone

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a solution of 2-methylpyridine (9.31 g) in tetrahydrofuran (200 ml) was added a 1.5 M hexane solution of n-butyllithium (73.3 ml) at -20° C. The resulting solution was stirred for 30 minutes at room temperature and added to a solution of ethyl benzoate (15.02 g) in tetrahydrofuran (100 ml) at -60° C. After stirring for 2 hours at -60° C, acetic acid (15 ml) was added and the resulting mixture was allowed to warm to room temperature and concentrated in vacuo. The residue was dissolved in ethyl acetate and washed with water. The aqueous layer was reextracted with ethyl acetate and the combined extracts were washed with water, 10% aqueous solution of sodium hydrogen carbonate, and saturated aqueous sodium chloride. After drying over magnesium sulfate, the ethyl acetate extracts were filtered and evaporated. The residue (20.5 g) was chromatographed on silica gel (Merck 70-230 mesh, 308 g) eluting with chloroform to give 2-pyridylmethyl phenyl ketone (10.86 g) as an oil.

Provenance & Evidence