Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) 2-phenylsuccinate

Succinic acid esters are important compounds that find many applications in various industrial fields. One of the most promising and easy ways of producing these molecules is represented by the bis-alkoxycarbonylation reaction of olefins. In particular, a recently developed catalytic system, consisting of an aryl alfa-diimine/palladium(II) catalyst and p-benzoquinone as an oxidant, has allowed succinates to be obtained in high yields. A similar methodology was applied here for the unprecedented synthesis of the bis(2-hydroxyethyl) 2-phenylsuccinate in 78% isolated yield, starting from the cheap and commercially available compounds styrene and ethylene glycol. To our knowledge, no other examples of bis-alkoxycarbonylations of olefins involving diols have been reported thus far. The obtained product was fully characterized by NMR and ESI-MS analyses.