tert-Butanol → HCID 2758966, compound

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a suspension of potassium tert-butoxide (10.6 g, 95.0 mmol) in tetrahydrofuran (100 mL) were added methyl acetoacetate (10.0 g, 86.0 mmol) and tert-butanol (0.83 mL, 8.6 mmol) at room temperature. The resulting solution was stirred for 1 h, and then 4-fluorobenzylbromide (11.2 mL, 90 mmol) was added. The reaction mixture was stirred at room temperature for 18 h, and then partitioned between water and ethyl acetate. The aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate (3×), the combined organic extracts were washed with brine, dried over sodium sulfate, filtered and concentrated. Column chromatography of the residue on silica (5-20% ethyl acetate in hexanes) gave methyl 2-(4-fluorobenzyl)-3-oxobutanoate (14.5 g, 75% yield) as a colorless oil which was used in the next step without further purification.

Provenance & Evidence