p-Tolyl methyl sulfone → 2-Bromo-4-(methanesulfonyl)-1-methylbenzene

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a suspension of iron powder (0.0669 g, 1.20 mmol) in bromine (2.05 mL, 39.9 mmol) at 0° C. was added methyl p-tolyl sulfone (0.340 g, 2.00 mmol). The reaction was warmed up to RT and stirred for 2 h. The mixture was poured into an ice-cold 1 M solution of sodium thiosulfate and ethyl acetate. The layers were separated and the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate (3×). The combined organic layers were dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered and concentrated to give 545 mg of crude material. The crude material was purified by column chromatography (3/1 Hex/ethyl acetate to 1/1 ethyl acetate/hexanes) to give 374 mg of 2-bromo-1-methyl-4-(methylsulfonyl)benzene as a white solid. ES+=251.0 (M+H)

Provenance & Evidence