Benzoic Acid → Benzyl Benzoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

The oxidation of toluene appears to follow an obvious path as inferred from the kinetics of the product yields (Table IV). The intermediate products are benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, benzoic acid; whereas, benzyl benzoate is the final product by esterification of benzyl alcohol and benzoic acid. In a separate test at the same reaction conditions, but without the Pd catalyst, benzyl alcohol and benzoic acid were esterified in toluene to produce benzyl benzoate. The following reaction scheme explains these results:

Provenance & Evidence