Abstract
It was found that the ethoxycarbonyl derivatives of o-acylphenols were reduced to the corresponding o-alkylphenols by sodium borohydride under mild conditions ; the use of 3 molar equivalents of sodium borohydride was sufficient for this reduction. Various kinds of o-acylphenols (1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25 and 27) were reduced to the corresponding o-alkylphenols (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 24, 26 and 28, respectively) in high yield by this method. o-acetylphenyl acetate (29) afforded o-ethylphenol (8) in better yield with sodium borohydride than ethyl o-acetylphenylcarbonate, but o-acetyl-phenyl p-toluenesulfonate (30) did not give 8.
