Phenolphthalein formylation

In addition to phenols, naphthols, their alkyl derivatives and the heterocyclic compounds mentioned above, a large variety of substituted monocyclic as well as condensed phenols have been subjected to the Reimer-Tiemann reaction. Although with a few exceptions the yields are only moderate, the facile reaction conditions, at least on a laboratory scale, have assured the reaction a permanent place among the variety of methods by which an aldehyde group can be attached to an aromatic nucleus. For example, phenolphthalein (1) has been formylated under standard Reimer-Tiemann conditions by van Kampen to yield the o-hydroxy aldehyde in 59% yield (equation 5)."... 

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