It has long been known that the alkaline hydrolysis of 2, 6-disubstituted benzoates is extremely slow. This has been ascribed to steric hindrance. s We thought it of interest to study the effect of various groups in the 4-position in such cases and report here on the alkaline hydrolysis of methyl 4-~-2, 6-dimethylbenzoates where x is hydrogen, methyl, bromine, nitro and amino. The hydrolyses were conveniently measured at temperatures ...
