Ethanol → Ethyl phenylacetate

Participants

Reaction Steps

A solution of phenylacetic acid (50 g, 0.36 mol) in ethanol (150 mL) is treated with catalytic amount of sulfuric acid (4 mL). The reaction mixture is refluxed for 4 h. The reaction is then concentrated in vacuo. The residue is dissolved in diethyl ether (300 mL) and washed with saturated aqueous sodium bicarbonate solution (2×50 mL) and water (1×100 mL). The organic layer dried over sodium sulfate filtered and concentrated in vacuo to give phenylacetic acid ethyl ester as a colorless oil: 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ 1.2 (t, J=7.2, 3H), 3.6 (s, 2H), 4.1 (q, J=7.2, 2H), 7.3 (m, 5H); MS 165 [M+1]+.

Provenance & Evidence