Acetic Acid → HCID 11138055, compound

Participants

Reaction Steps

This reaction fails for acetic acid (Ka=1.75×10−5), propionic acid (Ka=1.34×10−5), et al., and is even quite slow when one uses formic acid (Ka=1.77×10−4). In contrast, the use of dichloroacetic acid (Ka=5.53×10−2) in molar excess in the above reaction results in a moderate yield of the corresponding prenyl ester (7), prenyl dichloroacetate. Once the ester (7) is obtained, it can be readily saponified using sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, potassium carbonate et al., in aqueous alcohol at room temperature to yield prenyl alcohol (2).

Provenance & Evidence