Sodium Hydroxide → beta-Phenylisovaleric acid

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a solution of NaOH (47.2 g, 1.18 mole) in ice/H2O (270 g) maintained at 4°-5° C. was added Br2 (68.7 g, 0.43 mole) followed by 4-methyl-4-phenyl-2-pentanone (23.7 g, 0.135 mole). The reaction was stirred for 18 hours at room temperature. The crude reaction mixture was extracted with CCl4 (discarded), acidified to pH 1-2 with concentrated HCl solution and extracted with ethyl acetate. The combined organics were washed with saturated NaCl solution, dried over Na2SO4 and evaporated in vacuo to obtain 22.5 g of the title B compound as an off-white solid. This was used in the next step without further purification. MS: (M+NH4)+ @ 196.

Provenance & Evidence