2-[2-(Methoxycarbonyl)phenyl]acetic acid

A mixture of tert-butyl 2-(2-methoxycarbonylphenyl)acetate (5 mmol), KSF clay (1.0 g) in acetonitrile (10 mL) was stirred at reflux temperature for the indicated time to complete the reaction. After complete conversion as shown by TLC, the reaction mixture was filtered and washed with ethyl acetate (215 mL). The combined organic layers were dried over anhydrous Na2SO4, concentrated in vacuum and purified by silica gel column chromatography (Merck, 100-200 mesh, ethyl acetate-hexane, 2:8) to give 2-(2-methoxycarbonylphenyl)acetic acid.