Water → Methyl 4-(phenoxymethyl)benzoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a stirred mixture of 5.72 g (25.0 mmol, 1.0 eq.) of methyl 4-bromomethylbenzoate (Aldrich) and 3.80 g (27.5 mmol, 1.1 eq.) of K2CO3 in 10 mL of DMF at ambient temperature was added a solution of 2.59 g (27.5 mmol, 1.1 eq.) of phenol in 10 mL of DMF dropwise and the mixture stirred overnight. The reaction mixture was poured into 100 mL of water and extracted with 3×100 mL portions of 25% CH2Cl2 -hexanes. The combined organic phases were extracted with 3×100 mL portions of water, dried (MgSO4), filtered and concentrated in vacuo. The solid residue was recrystallized from ~50 mL of hexanes to give 5.31 g (88%) of the title compound as a white, crystalline solid. 1H NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3) δ8.05 (d, 2H), 7.51 (d, 2H), 7.26-7.33 (m, 2H), 6.95-7.02 (m, 3H), 5.13 (s, 2H), 3.92 (s, 3H). MS (DCl) m/e 260 (M+NH4)+.

Provenance & Evidence