Ethanol → Ethyl (chloroformyl)acetate

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Reaction Steps

To a flask was added sodium (4.45 g, 194 mmol) and ethanol (56.5 mL, 968 mmol) and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 4 hours until all of the metal had dissolved. Diethyl ether (100 mL) was added, followed by the slow addition of ethyl formate (17.2 mL, 213 mmol) and ethyl chloroacetate (22.79 mL, 213 mmol) as a solution in diethyl ether (100 mL). The reaction solution was stirred at room temperature for 16 hours. The resulting precipitate that formed was filtered and washed with ether, and dissolved in water. The aqueous layer was acidified with HCl (1N) to pH 4, and the product was extracted with diethyl ether (3 times). The organic layers were combined, dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated to give 1B (4.5 g, 15.4% yield).

Provenance & Evidence