Water → Sodium (2,6-dimethylphenyl)methanesulfonate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Sodium sulfite (442.4 g) was added to a stirred mixture of 2-chloromethyl-1,3-dimethyl-benzene (526.6 g), tetrabutylammonium iodide (6.4 g) and water (3.0 L). The mixture was warmed to reflux for 1 h. As the mixture cooled to room temperature, sodium chloride (526 g) and ethyl acetate (1.4 I) were added. The mixture was stirred and cooled to <10° C. The product was collected by filtration and washed with ethyl acetate (250 mL) and acetone (500 mL). The product was dried in vacuo at 60° C. to constant weight to give (2,6-dimethyl-phenyl)-methanesulfonic acid sodium salt (634 g, 88%). 1H NMR (300 MHz, DMSOd6): δ 7.17-6.91 (m, 3H, ArH), 3.96 (s, 2H, CH2), and 2.29 (s, 6H, CH3).

Provenance & Evidence