Phenol → 7-(Phenyloxy)-1-heptanol

Participants

Reaction Steps

Phenol (0.098 g, 1.04 mmol) and 7-bromo-1-heptanol (0.243 g, 1.246 mmol) were dissolved in acetone (25 mL) in a 50 mL round bottomed flask. Potassium carbonate (0.86 g, 6.23 mmol) was added to this solution and the flask was fitted with a condenser and refluxed using an oil bath at 70° C. for a period of 26 hours. The reaction flask was then cooled to room temperature. The contents of the flask was then filtered through a fluted filter paper and washed with acetone (10 mL). The combined filtrate was then evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure. The residue obtained was dissolved in ethyl acetate (25 mL). The ethyl acetate solution was then washed with 1N. NaOH (3×5 mL), water (2×5 mL) and brine (2×5 mL). The organic layer was dried over Na2SO4. Removal of solvent from the dried extract under reduced pressure afforded the product. The product was then purified by flash chromatography (Si gel, 12×2.5 cm) using ethyl acetate: hexane (1:1) to afford the pure 7-(phenyloxy)-1-heptanol (0.22 g, quantitative yield). The product alcohol from step A was analyzed yielding the following confirmatory data: 1H-NMR (CDCl3) δ 1.31-1.52 (m, 6H), 1.52-1.63 (m, 2H), 1.73-1.89 (m, 2H), 1.97 (bs, 1H), 3.61 (t, 2H, J=6.57 Hz), 3.93 (t, 2H, J=6.50 Hz), 6.80-6.97 (m, 3H) and 7.20-7.28 (m, 2H); 13C-NMR (CDCl3) δ 25.5, 25.8, 29.0, 29.1, 32.4, 62.5, 67.7, 114.3, 120.3, 129.2 and 158.8; IR (neat): 3348 cm−1; MS (ES+): 209 (M+1).

Provenance & Evidence