4.6. Methyl-2-(3-bromophenyl)acetate (9)

3-Bromo phenyl acetic acid (8, 4 g, 18.7 mmol, 1.0 eq) and dried K₂CO₃ (8.84 g, 56 mmol, 3.0 eq) were dissolved in acetone (40 mL) under inert conditions. Methyl iodide (10.5 mL, 56 mmol, 3.0 eq) was added dropwise and the reaction mixture was stirred for 67 h at 30 °C. After cooling the reaction to room temperature, the suspension was filtered with Celite and the solvent was removed in vacuo. The crude product was purified by silica gel chromatography (PE:EtOAc/4:1) yielding the product methyl-2-(3-bromophenyl)acetate (9) after evaporation as colorless oil in 100% yield (4.25 g, 18.7 mmol, quant.). R_f (PE:EtOAc/3:1): 0.85; ¹H-NMR (400 MHz, CD₃Cl): δ = 7.44 (d, J = 1.5 Hz, 1H), 7.41 (dt, J = 6.5, 2.2 Hz, 1H), 7.23–7.17 (m, 2H), 3.71 (s, 3H), 3.60 ppm (s, 2H); ¹³C-NMR (100 MHz, CD₃Cl): δ (ppm) = 171.4, 136.1, 132.4, 130.3, 130.1, 128.0, 122.6, 52.2, 40.7.