Step A: To a stirred suspension of 2-(2-hydroxyethyl)phenol (5 g, 36.2 mmol) and cesium carbonate (Cs2CO3, 38.9 g, 108.7 mmol) in acetone (100 mL) was slowly added iodomethane (6.2 g, 43.4 mmol) under ice-bath conditions. The reaction mixture was stirred continuously at 0 °C for 50 min. Upon completion of the reaction, the mixture was filtered to remove insoluble salts and the filtrate was concentrated under reduced pressure by rotary evaporator. The concentrated crude product was subjected to liquid-liquid extraction with ethyl acetate (EtOAc) and water. The organic layer was separated and dried with anhydrous sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), and the dried organic layer was concentrated by filtration to give 2-(2-methoxyphenyl)ethanol (4.5 g, 29.6 mmol, 82% yield) as a yellow solid.
