Sulfuric Acid → 1,4-Bis(3-Hydroxyphenoxy)Butane

Participants

Reaction Steps

A five neck five liter round bottom flask equipped with a mechanical stirrer, two condensers, and a dropping funnel is purged with nitrogen then charged under a nitrogen blanket with 1.5 kg (13.6 moles) resorcinol, 120 grams deionized water, and 138.75 grams (0.64 moles) 1,4-dibromobutane. The reaction slurry is slowly heated with stirring to reflux under a slow nitrogen purge; then a solution of 109 grams (1.64 moles) 85% KOH pellets in 109 grams water is added dropwise under a nitrogen blanket over a two hour period. After an additional hour of refluxing, the reaction mixture is allowed to coil enough to pour the contents into 10 liters deionized water. The water slurry is acidified with 30% sulfuric acid and allowed to stand at room temperature overnight before filtering under reduced pressure and washing with several portions of warm water. The residue, 80 grams of yellow amorphous solid, is then extracted with large quantities of boiling water to remove oils. After cooling to room temperature, the water extracts (14 liters) yield 28 grams of white, shiny platelets. HPLC analysis reveals 92% purity by peak area. Recrystallization from acetone yielded product of >98% purity by HPLC analysis with a melting point of 103° C.-106° C. (literature melting point, 105° C.-108° C.) for use in examples 10, 18 and 20. Both 1H and 13C NMR spectra are consistent with the proposed structure.

Provenance & Evidence