Methyl iodide → 9-(Methoxymethyl)-9H-fluorene-9-methanol

Participants

Reaction Steps

Under nitrogen atmosphere and anhydrous condition, to a reactor were added in succession 80 ml of tetrahydrofuran, 22.6 g (0.1 mol) of 9,9-bis(hydroxymethyl)fluorene and 57 g (0.4 mol) of iodomethane. After the reaction mixture was admixed homogeneously by stirring, 4.6 g of 52% NaH in mineral oil (0.1 mol) was added batch-wise over 2 hours at room temperature, Upon completing the addition, the reaction mixture was stirred for further 2 hours. The unreacted iodomethane was recovered by distillation. The remainder was diluted with 100 ml of water, and extracted twice using 100 ml of diethyl ether for each time. The combined diethyl ether extract was dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. After drying, thee ether solution was evaporated to dry to give 22.8 g of crude. The crude was purified through column chromatography to give 14.9 g of 9-methoxymethyl-9-hydroxymethyl-fluorene (yield 62%).

Provenance & Evidence