Garcia, Mariano et al. published new experimental results with the assistance of cas: 2235-01-0

The unique properties of ethers (i.e., that they are strongly polar, with nonbonding electron pairs but no hydroxyl group) enhance the formation and use of many reagents. For example, Grignard reagents cannot form unless an ether is present to share its lone pair of electrons with the magnesium atom.Synthetic Route of C15H16O2

Garcia, Mariano;del Campo, Carmen;Llama, Emilio F.;Sinisterra, Jose V. published 《Synthesis of α,α-disubstituted acetic acids using low-valent titanium》 in 1995. The article was appeared in 《Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 1: Organic and Bio-Organic Chemistry》. They have made some progress in their research.Synthetic Route of C15H16O2 The article mentions the following:

Dihalocarbenes generated using low-valent titanium (LVT) undergo a one-pot cycloaddition to diaryl, aryl alkyl or dialkyl ketones to give α,α-disubstituted acetic acids such as (R,S)-2-arylpropanoic acids. TiI4 proved most effective in this reaction for which the product yield was optimized by use of an excess of reducing agent. The experimental procedure involved many compounds, such as Dimethoxydiphenylmethane (cas: 2235-01-0) .

The unique properties of ethers (i.e., that they are strongly polar, with nonbonding electron pairs but no hydroxyl group) enhance the formation and use of many reagents. For example, Grignard reagents cannot form unless an ether is present to share its lone pair of electrons with the magnesium atom.Synthetic Route of C15H16O2

Reference:
Ether – Wikipedia,
Ether | (C2H5)2O – PubChem