A 1.38 g quantity of potassium carbonate and 308 mg of potassium iodide are placed into a reactor. Acetone (30 ml) and a solution of 450 mg of methyl 4-tert-butoxycarbonyl-3-dimethoxymethyl-5-oxohexanoate in 10 ml of acetone are further placed into the reactor. Subsequently 270 mg of pentynyl bromide is added to the mixture. The resulting mixture is stirred at room temperature for one hour and thereafter refluxed at 70° C. for 13 hours. On completion of the reaction, the mixture is cooled to room temperature, and the solids are separated off. The product is concentrated in a vacuum, and the residue purified by a silica gel column, giving methyl 4-acetyl-4-tert-butoxycarbonyl-3-dimethoxymethyl-6-nonynoate (compound (2), R1 =t-Bu, R2 =R3 =CH3) in a yield of 91%.
