3-Methoxyacetophenone → HCID 57799927, compound

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a stirred solution of 3-fluoro-2-methylbenzaldehyde (75.0 g, 543 mmol) and 3′-methoxyacetophenone (179 g, 1.32 mol) in dichloromethane (1.5 L) was added 10% aq NaOH (750 mL) and tetrabutylammonium bromide (30.8 g, 95.7 mmol) portion-wise using a water/ice bath to maintain room temperature. The resulting mixture was stirred vigorously at room temperature for 16 h during which time a precipitate formed. An additional portion of tetrabutylammonium bromide (10.0 g, 31.1 mmol) was added and the mixture stirred an additional 3 h. The layers were separated, the aqueous phase was extracted with dichloromethane (500 mL), and the combined organic phases were washed with water. The organic layer was then dried over MgSO4, filtered, and concentrated under vacuum to give 279.1 g of crude product as a viscous brown oil. Purification over silica gel using 25-50% EtOAc/hexanes followed by slurrying of the concentrated yellow oil with 50% ether/hexanes and 100% ether gave the desired product, 3-(3-fluoro-2-methylphenyl)-1,5-bis(3-methoxyphenyl)pentane-1,5-dione (71.6 g, 31.4% yield), (characterized by 1H NMR).

Provenance & Evidence