The invention discloses a synthetic method of an 
etoricoxib intermediate 4-methylsulfonyl 
acetophenone, wherein the comprises the following steps: step 1, adding 
anhydrous aluminum trichloride and 
acetyl chloride in a 
dichloromethane system to obtain a reaction solution; step 2, dropwise adding the reaction solution into 
thioanisole into the reaction solution; step 3, standing for liquid separation, extracting a water phase by using 
dichloromethane, combining organic phases, and washing the combined organic phases by using a 10% 
sodium bicarbonate aqueous solution; step 4, evaporating the washed organic phase to 
dryness, adding n-
heptane, crystallizing, washing, and 
drying to obtain acetylphenylmethyl 
sulfide; and step 5, adding the acetylphenylmethyl 
sulfide obtained in the step 4 into an 
acetone system, and further reacting to obtain 4-methylsulfonyl 
acetophenone; or adding the acetylphenylmethyl 
sulfide obtained in the step 4 into an 
acetic acid system, and stirring for dissolving to obtain a reaction mixture; and further reacting to obtain the 4-methylsulfonyl 
acetophenone. The 
energy consumption is reduced, the reaction is more stable, and the benefit is high.