Methyl 2-bromo-4-methylbenzoate → Methyl 2-ethyl-4-methylbenzoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

To a stirred mixture of ZnBr2 (13 g, 57.72 mmol, 2.00 equiv) in THF (230 mL) under nitrogen at 0° C. was added dropwise EtMgBr (19.5 mL, 3 M in THF). After 30 minutes at 0° C., the temperature was lowered to −78° C. and Pd(dppf)Cl2 (2 g, 2.73 mmol, 0.09 equiv) was added followed by dropwise addition of a solution of methyl 2-bromo-4-methylbenzoate (6.6 g, 28.81 mmol, 1.00 equiv) in tetrahydrofuran (200 mL). The resulting mixture was allowed to slowly reach ambient temperature and stirred under nitrogen overnight. The reaction mixture was quenched by the careful addition of 20 mL NH4Cl (aq., sat.) and extracted with 3×100 mL of ethyl acetate. The combined organic layers were washed with 1×200 mL of brine, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue was purified using silica gel column chromatography with ethyl acetate/petroleum ether (1:30) as eluent to yield 3.7 g (72%) of the title compound as a colorless oil.

Provenance & Evidence