1-Methoxy-4-(1,1,1-trifluoro-2-methylpropan-2-yl)benzene → 3,3,3-Trifluoro-2,2-dimethylpropanoic acid

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Reaction Steps

To a biphasic mixture of 1-methoxy-4-(1,1,1-trifluoro-2-methylpropan-2-yl)benzene (10.0 g, 45.8 mmol) and sodium periodate (137 g, 642 mmol) in a mixture solvent of CCl4:CH3CN:H2O (2:2:3, 550 ml) was added slowly ruthenium(III) chloride hydrate (0.517 g, 2.29 mmol) (black powder) while the reaction flask was kept in an ice-water bath. The mixture turned yellow rapidly then red after 5 minutes, ans was stirred for 0.5 h. The ice-water bath was removed and the reaction mixture was stirred vigorously, via a mechanical stirrer, overnight. The solids were filtered off, washed with 100 ml of DCM, 100 ml of H2O. The filtrate (pH ˜1) was basified with 10 N NaOH to pH >11, and the layers were separated, and the aq. layer was extracted with 130 ml of DCM. The aq. layer was then acidified carefully with conc. HCl to pH ˜1, extracted with 3×150 ml of DCM. The org layers were combined, dried (Na2SO4), and concentrated to give the title compound as an oil, which became a semi-solid upon drying on the vac line.

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