no meth for me ....

[OCD]

SWIM tried to methylate syringaldehyde with trimethyl phosphate according to the patent on rhodium's page and had some, but certainly not teriffic success (severely low yields). SWIM is trying to distinguish a possible typo/misunderstanding from her inadequate appreciation of the art of organic synthesis (if I could turn back time ....). What swim was wondering was ....

1) Is the 'heat to 105C' a typo in the patent? SWIM's seen this described as a 'melt-phase' reaction elsewhere, and swim's syringaldehyde has the mp listed on the bottle as 113-115C (at which point it's still a solid).

2) Does this same direction to heat to 105C serve some sort of purpose in the overall reaction, or is it just to make the reaction conditions somewhat more anhydrous?

thanks!