Water → Phenethyl (E)-caffeate

Participants

Reaction Steps

1.0 g of caffeic acid was dissolved in 5 mL of dimethylsulfoxide and 0.55 g potassium bicarbonate were added and the mixture was allowed to react for 2 hours at room temperature. 0.75 mL of phenethyl bromide and 0.07 g of benzyl tributyl ammonium chloride were added and the reaction mixture was stirred for 90 hours. The reaction mixture was slowly added to 50 mL of water under agitation to precipitate the product, which was recovered by filtration. The crude product was then recrystallized from 17.5 mL boiling toluene to obtain caffeic acid phenethyl ester The yield was 830 mg and the purity was 97%.

Provenance & Evidence