Hydrochloric Acid → 4,4,4-Trifluoro-2-methyl-1-(4-methylphenyl)butan-1-one

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

At 0° C., 16.44 g (123.3 mmol) of aluminum chloride were added a little at a time to 12.6 ml (118.6 mmol) of toluene and 20.9 g (119.7 mmol) of 4,4,4-trifluoro-2-methylbutanoyl chloride in 300 ml of 1,2-dichloroethane, and the mixture was stirred at 0° C. for one hour. The reaction mixture was then slowly warmed to room temperature and stirred at this temperature for three hours. The reaction mixture was then slowly added to 300 ml of ice-cooled 18.5% strength hydrochloric acid, and the organic phase was then removed. The aqueous phase was extracted three more times with dichloromethane. The combined organic phases were dried over sodium sulfate and filtered, and the solvent was removed under reduced pressure. The crude product was purified chromatographically on silica gel (mobile phase cyclohexane/ethyl acetate 4:1). This gave 19.96 g (18.7 mmol, 73% of theory) of the title compound.

Provenance & Evidence