Diethyl Oxalate → Methyl 4-(4-methylphenyl)-2,4-dioxobutanoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Sodium (1.0 g, 43 mmol) was dissolved in MeOH (50 mL) and then evaporated to a dry white powder. To the powder was added MTBE (100 mL) and diethyloxalate (5.14 g, 35.2 mmol). To the resulting solution was added a solution of 1-(4-methylphenyl)ethanone (5.0 g, 37.3 mmol) in MTBE (50 mL) dropwise over 45 min. The resulting suspension was allowed to stir for 1 h, and the precipitate was filtered and washed with MTBE/hexanes (1:1, 50 mL). The solid was suspended in 1 N HCl (100 mL) and extracted with EtOAc (2×100 mL). The combined extracts were dried (MgSO4), filtered, and concentrated to an oily residue which crystallized on standing at rt. The yellow solid was triturated with MTBE/hexanes (1:1) and filtered to give the title compound (3.76 g, 46%) as a white solid.

Provenance & Evidence