Diiodomethane → Methyl 4-iodo-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzoate

Participants

Reaction Steps

Methyl 4-amino-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzoate (˜22 mmol), was dissolved in THF (100 mL) and the mixture was sparged with nitrogen for 15 minutes. Copper (I) iodide (4.14 g, 21.8 mmol) and diiodomethane (8.8 mL, 109 mmol) were added followed by isoamyl nitrite (8.8 mL, 66.2 mmol) and the mixture was stirred at reflux for 4 h. The mixture was cooled to ambient temperature and then was partitioned between ethyl acetate and 1N hydrochloric acid. The aqueous portion was extracted with ethyl acetate (2×). The combined organic portion was washed sequentially with 1:1 saturated sodium bicarbonate solution: 1 M sodium thiosulfate (2×) and brine, dried over sodium sulfate, then filtered and concentrated to provide a brown oil which was purified by column chromatography (silica gel, 2-40% dichloromethane in hexanes) to afford methyl 4-iodo-2-(trifluoromethyl)benzoate (5.42 g, 16.4 mmol, ˜75% yield over 2 steps) as a pale yellow oil. 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3): δ 8.08 (s, 1H), 7.97 (dd, 1H), 7.52 (d, 1H), 3.93 (s, 3H); GCMS for C9H6F3IO2: 330 (M+).

Provenance & Evidence