Ethanol → Diethyl 2-phenylbutanedioate

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

A mixture of 50 g of DL-phenylsuccinic acid (0.257 mol), 90 mL (1.59 mol) of ethanol, 46 mL of toluene and 0.39 g of concentrated H2SO4 was heated to 115° C. An azeotropic mixture of ethanol, toluene and water was distilled over a column of 10 cm. When the distillation stopped the same amounts of ethanol and toluene was added. To obtain a complete conversion this was repeated twice. The resulting oil was distilled at 114° C. (2·10−2 mbar); yield 60.82 g (95%), purity 100%

Provenance & Evidence