Ethyl 2-methyl-2-phenoxypropionate (2.0 g, 9.6 mmol) was dissolved in ethanol (16 ml) at 26 °C, followed by the slow addition of aqueous (4 ml) solution of sodium hydroxide (0.46 g, 11.5 mmol). The reaction mixture was stirred at the same temperature for 30 min, after which most of the ethanol was removed by concentration via rotary evaporator. Water (20 mL) was added to the concentrated mixture and washed with ethyl acetate (2 x 20 mL) to remove unreacted starting material. The aqueous phase was adjusted to pH 3 with 2N hydrochloric acid and subsequently extracted with ethyl acetate (2 x 20 mL). The organic phases were combined, washed with saturated saline (30 mL), dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered and concentrated to afford 2-methyl-2-phenoxypropionic acid (1.6 g, 94.1% yield) as a white solid, which could be used for subsequent reactions without further purification.
