3-Fluoro-4-methoxyacetophenone

321-28-8

75-36-5

455-91-4

Under ice bath conditions, 6.38 g (48 mmol) of aluminum trichloride and 40 mL of methylene chloride were added to a 100 mL round bottom flask and stirred until dissolved. Subsequently, 4.68 g (60 mmol) of acetyl chloride was slowly added, keeping the reaction temperature at 5 to 10 °C. Stirring was continued at 5°C for 10 minutes, followed by the slow dropwise addition of 5.04 g (40 mmol) 2-fluoroanisole. After the dropwise addition was completed, the reaction mixture was stirred at 5°C for 1 hour. Upon completion of the reaction, the mixture was carefully poured into 100 mL of ice water to quench the reaction. The aqueous layer was extracted with dichloromethane (2 x 30 mL) and the organic phases were combined. The organic phase was washed sequentially with water (2 x 30 mL), dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered and concentrated. The crude product was washed with petroleum ether and finally recrystallized with ethyl acetate to obtain the target product 3-fluoro-4-methoxyacetophenone in 92.4% yield.