Joseph Baxter and Tatsuaki Yamaguchi
An efficient method for the carboxylation of sodium 2-naphtholate and potassium 2-naphtholate in benzene with 10 mol% of crown ether or aprotic polar solvents under 1 atm of carbon dioxide at 60 °C affords 2-hydroxynaphthalene-1-carboxylic acid in yields ranging from 14.6 to 43.8% and 26.7 to 66.0%, respectively.