Synthesis
Step 1: 3,5-dimethoxyphenylacetic acid (1.35 g, 6.88 mmol) was dissolved in ethanol and concentrated hydrochloric acid (4 drops) was added. The reaction mixture was heated to reflux at 85°C for 16 hours. After completion of the reaction, it was cooled to room temperature and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue was diluted with distilled water (20 mL) and extracted with dichloromethane (25 mL x 3). The organic layers were combined, washed with saturated saline (50 mL), dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate and concentrated under reduced pressure to give ethyl 2-(3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)acetate (2.85 g, 100%) as a yellow solid.
References
[1] Patent: WO2014/144737, 2014, A1. Location in patent: Paragraph 00718
[2] Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 1984, vol. 27, # 2, p. 190 - 195
[3] MedChemComm, 2013, vol. 4, # 2, p. 332 - 339
[4] Chinese Journal of Chemistry, 2010, vol. 28, # 6, p. 1041 - 1043
