Question

Starting from CH₃MgI, How will you prepare the following?

Ethyl acetate

Answer 1

Ethyl chloroformate reacts with methyl magnesium iodide to form ethyl acetate.

\[\begin{array}{cc}
\phantom{..........}\ce{O}\phantom{.............................}\ce{OMgl}\phantom{................................}\ce{I}\\
\phantom{..........}||\phantom{...............................}|\phantom{..................................}/\\
\ce{\underset{\text{Ethylchloroformate}}{C2H5O - C - Cl + }CH3MgI -> C2H5O - C - Cl -> CH3 - C - OC2H5 + Mg}\\
\phantom{............................................}|\phantom{...................}||\phantom{................}\backslash\\
\phantom{.................................................}\ce{CH3}\phantom{.............}\ce{\underset{\text{Ethylacet ate}}{O}}\phantom{............}\ce{Cl}\phantom{......}
\end{array}\]