Methyl iodide → (E)-methyl 4-(dimethoxymethyl)cinnamate

Participants

Reaction Conditions

Reaction Steps

4-Formylcinnamic acid dimethyl acetal (Cleeland, Jr., et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,373) (20.00 g) and anhydrous potassium carbonate (12.44 g) were stirred in anhydrous N,N-dimethylformamide (189 ml) for 5 minutes. Methyl iodide (12.8 g) was added and the resulting mixture was stirred vigorously with gentle heating (oil bath at 40° C.) for 18 h. Volatiles were evaporated in vacuo and the residue partitioned between hexanes (400 ml) and water (100 ml). The hexanes layer was dried (magnesium sulfate) and evaporated to give (E)-methyl 4-(dimethoxymethyl)cinnamate as a pale yellow oil (18.98 g, 89%), 1H-NMR (DMSO-d6) consistent with structure.

Provenance & Evidence