Preparation of 2,5-Dimethoxybenzyl Alcohol

of the crude 2-methyl-4-methoxy-6-hydroxymethylphenoI prepared in Example 1 was dissolved in 200 mL. of acetone. After addition of 115 g. of anhydrous K2C03 and 125 g. of methyl iodide, the solution came to reflux due to an exothermic reaction. After the initial reaction ceased, the mixture was refluxed with stirring for 18 hours. It was poured into a large volume of water and the precipitated oil extracted with ether. The ether extract was washed with 2 N NaOH to remove unreacted phenols and after repeated washing with water, dried over Na2S04. Rectification in vacuo afforded  

The first two fractions are mainly toluhydroquinont dimethylether. Fractions 3 and 4 consist mainly of 3-methyl-2,5-dimethoxybenzylalcohol. The yield was 98.2 g. From the NaOH extract. 7.1 g. of phenolic material was recovered. A sample of fraction 3 was submitted for analysis. Analysis.—Calc, for C10H14O3 C, 65.91 H, 7.74 Found C, 64.24 H, 7.94. Source Green 1966 

310 g of 2,6-dimethoxyphenol, 300 g of 38 wt% formalin, and 810 g of 10% (wt%) aqueous sodium hydroxide were reacted for 60 hour at 25° C. under a pressure of 0 kg/cm2 -G, the reaction mixture was anti then neutralized with sulfuric acid, to obtain 80 g of 2,6-dimethoxy-4 (hydroxymethyl)phenol. (Yield 22 mol%) 25 g of the obtained 

6- dimethoxy-4-methylphenol was obtained. (Yield 66 mol%) The yield on the basis of the amount of the raw material was 15 mol%. 

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