SWIK and another bee (who shall remain nameless for now but should take most of the credit) require some phenyl-2-butanone for 'custom organic synthesis'. They have come up with some methods, and would like some help on the subject if possible;
Method used (works fine): Heating phenylacetic acid with excess propionic anhydride and anhydrous sodium acetate, then hydrolysis and treatment with dilute NaOH.
The problem with this method for SWIK is phenylacetic acid is impossible to buy, and illegal (although very easy) to manufacture without a license (this is not an option
)
The proposed solutions are;
1) Add ethyllithium/ethylmagnesium bromide in anhydrous THF to phenylacetaldehyde to form the alcohol, then oxidise using any common method.
2) Add 1 equivalent of ethylmagnesium bromide in anhydrous THF to phenylacetyl chloride, the theory being that since the acid chloride is more reactive than the ketone, no alcohol will be formed.
Firstly, can anyone think of any other routes?
And second, for method 2), it should be best to use a less reactive Grignard, to inhibit formation of the alcohol. Would ethylmagnesium bromide work O.K? Or would something less reactive be more favourable/necessary, such as an organocopper reagent?
Thankyou kindly in advance...