In a 2-liter round-bottomed flask fitted with an efficient reflux condenser and a dropping funnel were placed 500 g. of diethyl phthalate and 100 g. of powdered sodium. The flask was placed on a steam cone and a mixture of 490 g. of ethyl acetate and 10 g. of absolute ethyl alcohol was dropped in over a period of about ninety minutes. The material in the flask was refluxed gently during the addition of the ethyl acetate mixture. The heating was continued for six hours, the reaction mass cooled and 200 cc. of ether added. As much of the sodium salt as possible was poured on a filter and then washed with ether using as small a volume as possible. The total yield of the dry, yellow sodium salt was 385 g. (71% of the theoretical).
© Collected Ruslan Anatolievich Kiper, burewestnik@mail.ru