[darkdevil]

Dear experts!,
I am doing a transetherification reaction. (eg. methoxybenzene --> butoxybenzene + MeOH) I can get my product correctly, but with a low yield (~ 35%) I am pretty sure that the by product methanol was not properly removed in my set-up which gave a low yield.
i read papers saying that it is important to remove MeOH to shift the equilibrium to the product, but they didnt mention about the set-up
I know some methods like Calcium chloride to remove MeOH, but how exactly is the set-up???

[discodermolide]

Try removing it by distillation, under a slight vacuum.

[TheUnassuming]

I think the most common way would be as discodermolide says.  What are you trying to swap the methyl for?  What solvent/conditions are you using?

[orgopete]

Some of the more interesting questions are about mechanisms. This reaction poses an instance. I am surprised by this result. The phenolic oxygen must be the nucleophile to a protonated butanol, and water the nucleophile to attack the methyl group if methanol is to form. I might have thought these conditions might have led to a simple Friedel-Crafts alkylation. Since this sounds as though the interest in a bulk reaction, I don't know the overall economy of a two step procedure which I would try.