tert-butyl 4-(chloromethyl)benzoate

Conditions: temp:0.00; pressure:0.00; stir:; See reaction.notes.procedure_details.

Procedure: At 0° C., 6.29 g (0.16 mol) of sodium hydride (careful: evolution of hydrogen) are added a little at a time to a solution of 48.24 g (0.26 mol) of diallyl malonate in 100 ml of dioxane and 40 ml of THF. After warming to room temperature, the mixture is stirred at 40° C. for 1 hour. At 40° C., 29.69 g (0.13 mol) of tert-butyl 4-chloromethylbenzoate, dissolved in 100 ml of dioxane and 40 ml of THF, are slowly added dropwise, and the reaction solution is then stirred at a bath temperature of 110° C. overnight. After cooling to room temperature, 40 ml of saturated ammonium chloride solution and 100 ml of water are added carefully to the reaction mixture. The mixture is then extracted three times with ethyl acetate, and the combined organic phases are washed with saturated sodium chloride solution and dried over sodium sulfate. After filtration, the solvent is evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure. The crude product obtained is purified by flash chromatography on 2 kg of silica gel (mobile phase: petroleum ether/ethyl acetate 20:1). This gives 30.4 g (81 mmol, 62% of theory) of a colorless solid. the reaction solution is then stirred at a bath temperature of 110° C. overnight After cooling to room temperature The mixture is then extracted three times with ethyl acetate the combined organic phases are washed with saturated sodium chloride solution dried over sodium sulfate After filtration the solvent is evaporated to dryness under reduced pressure

Conditions: temp:0.00; pressure:0.00; stir:; See reaction.notes.procedure_details.

Procedure: Sodium iodide (229.2 g) was added to a solution of 4-chloromethyl benzoic acid tert-butyl ester (315.2 g) in acetone (1.5 L). The reaction mixture was heated to reflux for about 2 h and then allowed to cool to room temperature. The precipitate was removed by filtration and the filtrate concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue was partitioned between water (500 mL) and MTBE (1500 mL). The organic phase was washed with saturated sodium bicarbonate and dried over magnesium sulfate. Concentration under reduced pressure afforded 442.2 g (97% yield) dark oil. HNMR: CDCl3, 1.59 ppm (s, 9H), 4.47 (s, 2H), 7.42 (d, 2H), 7.91 (d, 2H) The reaction mixture was heated to reflux for about 2 h The precipitate was removed by filtration the filtrate concentrated under reduced pressure The residue was partitioned between water (500 mL) and MTBE (1500 mL) The organic phase was washed with saturated sodium bicarbonate dried over magnesium sulfate Concentration under reduced pressure