Synthesis of 4-Hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylacetone

The compound 4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenylacetone(1)was a key intermediate of drug synthesis. Vanillin was treated with nitroethane in presence of n-butylamine and glacial acetic acid in toluene and refluxing for 8 h to give 2-methoxy-4-(2-nitro-1-propenyl) phenol(2). And then the compound(2)was catalytic transfer hydrogenated with Pd/C-HCOONH4 giving product 2-methoxy-4-(2-oximepropenyl) phenol(3). 1 was prepared by reaction of the compound 3 with aqueous sulfuric acid. The total yield of product was 57.1% and the purity was greater than 99.3%. Synthetic procedure became simple after optimization of this reaction conditiom. The chemical structure of the target product was characterized by 1H NMR,13C NMR,13C NMR(DEPT-135°).