Single hydroxides, product distribution

As the supported glycol catalysts worked better in promoting reactions in a single solvent system, we explored the direct carbonylation of benzyl halides using an alcohol solvent, base, and cobalt carbonyl. Our initial experiments concentrated on the reaction of benzyl bromide at room temperature and one atmosphere carbon monoxide. We chose sodium hydroxide as the base, methanol as the solvent, and looked at the product distribution. We were interested in the selectivity to ester and the reactivity of this system. The results are given in Table III. 

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