Dimethyl Sulfone → Methanesulfonylacetic acid methyl ester

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a suspension of dimethyl sulfone (5.43 g) in tetrahydrofuran (10 mL) was added 1.59 M n-butyl lithium (36.3 mL) in a dryice-acetone bath under a nitrogen atmosphere. After stirring for 0.5 hour, a solution of methyl methoxyacetate (2.00 g) in tetrahydrofuran (5 mL) was added. The resulting mixture was stirred for 2 hours in the bath and allowed to warm to room temperature over 2 hours. The mixture was partitioned between EtOAc and 4 N hydrochloric acid. The reaction was quenched by adding 4 N hydrochloric acid in EtOAc (15 mL). The mixture was partitioned between EtOAc (100 mL) and brine (100 mL). The aqueous layer was washed with EtOAc (100 mL, five times). The organic layer was combined, and the combined extracts were dried over MgSO4, and evaporated. Flash silica gel column chromatography (EtOAc-hexane=50-200 to 300-100) afforded 2-(methylsulfonyl)-1-methoxyethanone as a colorless oil (2.24 g).

Provenance & Evidence