Hydrochloric Acid → 2-Hydroxy-4-methylbenzaldehyde

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

To a stirred solution of 3-methyl-phenol (1 g, 9.2 mmol) in toluene (5 ml) at room temperature under nitrogen was added SnCl4 (241 mg, 0.92 mmol) and tri-nbutylamine (0.6 ml, 2.77 mmol). After 20 min, paraformaldehyde (611 mg, 20.3 mmol) was added and the whole stirred at 100° C. for 16 h. The reaction mixture was diluted with water (20 ml) and acidified with 2N HCl to pH 2. The solution was extracted with ether (25 ml), washed with brine (20 ml), dried (MgSO4) filtered and evaporated to a brown oil. This oil was purified by column chromatography using 5% EtOAc in pentane as eluant to provide the title product (319 mg, 25%); 1HNMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ: 2.3 (s, 3H), 6.75 (m, 2H), 7.35 (d, 1H), 9.75 (s, 1H), 11.00 (s, 1H).

Provenance & Evidence