2,4-Difluorobenzaldehyde → 2,4-Difluoro-1-methylbenzene

Participants

Reaction Steps

DE-A 2,333,849 discloses that 2,4-difluorobenzaldehyde can be converted into 2,4-difluorobenzyl alcohol in a yield of 68.6% by hydrogenation over Raney nickel. Disadvantages of this process are not only the large amount of catalyst (31 g per mol) and the large amount of a solvent (1100 ml per mole) but also the unsatisfactory yield of 68.6%. These factors result in an unsatisfactory space-time yield. The aldehyde used was obtained here from the difficult-to-obtain 2,4-difluorotoluene by side-chain chlorination and subsequent hydrolysis.

Provenance & Evidence