Sodium borohydride → 2,2-Difluoro-2-phenylethanol

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Reaction Steps

A stirred mixture of 2.2 g of difluoro-2-phenyl acetic acid ethyl ester (W. J. Middleton, E. M. Bingham, J. Org. Chem., 45, 2883-2887 (1980)), and 0.6 g of sodium borohydride in 75 mL of ethanol was kept at room temperature overnight, concentrated to near dryness under reduced pressure carefully acidified with 20 mL of 5% HCl and extracted into 3×50 mL of dichloromethane. The combined extracts were dried over magnesium sulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure. Drying under vacuum gave 1.7 g of product as an oil: 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) 7.5 (m, 5H), 4.0 (t, 2H).

Provenance & Evidence