Step 1. Thionyl chloride (62 mL, 0.83 mol) was added slowly and dropwise to a solution of 2,3-dimethylbenzoic acid (50.2 g, 0.33 mol) in methanol (1 L), taking care to control the rate of acceleration of the dropwise addition in order to avoid intense exothermicity. The reaction mixture was heated to reflux and stirred overnight and subsequently cooled to room temperature. The solvent was removed by distillation under reduced pressure to afford methyl 2,3-dimethylbenzoate (53.3 g, 98% yield) as a yellow liquid.1H-NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3) data were as follows: δ 2.34 (s, 3H), 3.45 (s, 3H), 3.90 (s, 3H), 7.15 (t, 1H), 7.28 (d, 1H), 7.62 (d, 1H). 7.62 (d, 1H).
