Acetic Anhydride → 1-(2,4-Dihydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)ethan-1-one

2-Nitrobenzene-1,3-diol (24.5 g) was added portionwise over 15 minutes to a vigorously stirred solution of aluminum chloride (46.3 g) in nitrobenzene (325 mL). Acetic anhydride (15.7 mL) was then added dropwise to the mixture over a further 15 minutes and the mixture then heated at 100° C. for 5 h. The reaction was cooled to ambient temperature and carefully quenched with ice'cold 2M hydrochloric acid (300 mL). The mixture was extracted with diethyl ether (2×500 mL) and the combined diethyl ether extracts then extracted with 2M aqueous sodium hydroxide (2×400 mL). The combined basic extracts were washed with diethyl ether (4×500 mL) and then acidified to pH 1 with 2M hydrochloric acid (700 mL). The resulting precipitate was filtered off, washed with water, and dried under vacuum at 40° C. to afford the subtitled compound as a yellow-brown solid. Yield 29.5 g.