The general procedure for the synthesis of 3-fluorophenylethanol from 3-fluorophenylacetic acid was as follows: to a stirred solution of 3-fluorophenylacetic acid (5.0 g, 32.0 mmol) in ether (100 ml) was slowly added dropwise an ether solution of lithium aluminum hydroxide (32.4 ml, 1 M, 32.4 mmol) at -10 °C. The reaction mixture was gradually warmed to 25°C and stirred continuously for 1 hour. Subsequently, the reaction mixture was cooled again to -10°C and the reaction was quenched by sequential addition of methanol (20 ml) and 4M sodium hydroxide solution (20 ml). The resulting slurry was filtered and the filtrate was concentrated by evaporation under vacuum. The crude product was purified by silica gel column chromatography using CH2Cl2/MeOH/NH3 (80:8:1) as eluent to give 3-fluorophenylethanol (3.80 g, 84% yield) finally. The product was confirmed by NMR hydrogen spectrum (250 MHz, CDCl3): δ 2.87 (3H, t, J = 6.5 Hz, CH2), 3.87 (3H, t, J = 6.5 Hz, CH2), 6.89-7.02 (3H, m, Ar-H), 7.23-7.33 (1H, m, Ar-H).
