Triethylamine (4.27 mL, 30.7 mmol) was added to a solution of 4-(benzyloxy)-2-isopropoxyphenol (2.64 g, 10.22 mmol) in dry CH2Cl2 (40.9 mL) and the resulting solution was cooled to 0° C. Benzoyl chloride (1.54 mL, 13.29 mmol) was added dropwise and the reaction was stirred at 25° C. overnight. The reaction mixture was washed with water (50 mL). The aqueous layer was separated and extracted with CH2Cl2 (2×20 mL). The combined organic layers were dried (MgSO4) and concentrated in vacuo to give the crude product. This was azeoptoped with toluene to afford 4-(benzyloxy)-2-isopropoxyphenyl benzoate. LCMS calc.=385.1; found=385.0 (M+Na)+. 1H NMR (500 MHz, CHCl3): δ 8.25-8.21 (2 H, m), 7.66-7.60 (1 H, m), 7.52 (2 H, t, J=7.7 Hz), 7.47 (2 H, d, J=7.5 Hz), 7.44-7.39 (2 H, m), 7.39-7.33 (1 H, m), 7.12-7.05 (1 H, m), 6.73-6.68 (1 H, m), 6.60 (1 H, dd, J=8.7, 2.8 Hz), 5.07 (2 H, s), 4.54-4.43 (1 H, m), 1.27 (6 H, t, J=6.1 Hz).
