4-Hydroxybenzaldehyde → 4-Methoxymethoxybenzylalcohol

Participants

Reaction Steps

Chloromethyl methyl ether (34.2 ml) was added to a mixture of 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (50.0 g), potassium carbonate (84.9 g) and N,N-dimethylformaldehyde (150 ml) at 0° C. and stirred at room temperature for 11 hours. Water was added to the reaction mixture and extracted with ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate layer was washed with an aqueous saturated solution of sodium chloride, dried (MgSO4) and concentrated. The residue was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (300 ml) and methanol (50 ml) and sodium borohydride (7.76 g) was added in portions at 0° C. After stirring for 30 minutes, water was added to the reaction mixture and extracted with ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate layer was washed with an aqueous saturated solution of sodium chloride, dried (MgSO4) and concentrated. The residue was subjected to silica gel chromatography to obtain 4-methoxymethoxybenzylalcohol (56.7 g, yield 82%) as a colorless oil from an ethyl acetate-hexane (2:3, v/v) eluted fraction.

Provenance & Evidence