Hydrochloric Acid → 4-Trifluoromethyl-alpha,alpha-dimethylbenzyl chloride

Participants

Reaction Steps

The alcohol from step A above (54 g, 0.27 mol) is treated with ethereal HCl (1.3 L, 1M) followed by anhydrous zinc chloride (53 mL, 1M in ether) and the reaction allowed to stir for 22 h at room temperature. The reaction is then washed with water, aqueous 2 N NaOH, dried over MgSO4, concentrated and purified by silica gel chromatography (8:1 hexane to ethyl acetate) to give 4-trifluoromethyl-α,α-dimethylbenzyl chloride of sufficient purity to carry to the next step; yield: 50.5 g (85%).

Provenance & Evidence