3-(3-Chloro-4-hydroxy-phenyl)-propionic acid benzyl ester (step 1) (5.9 g, 20.3 mmol) in DMF (60 ml) was treated with potassium carbonate (5.61 g, 40.6 mmol) followed by t-butyl bromoacetate (4.49 ml, 30.4 mmol) and the mixture was heated at 60° C. overnight. The reaction mixture was diluted with water (500 ml), and the product extracted into EtOAc (450 ml). The organic portion was washed with water (200 ml), brine (200 ml), dried over MgSO4 and the solvent removed in vacuo to yield a yellow oil. Purification by chromatography on silica eluting with 0-20% EtOAc in iso-hexane afforded the title product; 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6) δ 7.34 (6H, m), 7.11 (1H, d), 6.89 (1H, d), 5.07 (2H, s), 4.74 (2H, s), 2.81 (2H, t), 2.68 (2H, t), 1.42 (9H, s). LC-MS Rt 1.64 mins; 427.3 [M+Na]+, Method 2minLC_v002.
