A mixture of about 33 g of 1-(bromomethyl)-4-(tetradecyloxy)benzene, about 16.2 g of ethyl levulinate ethylene ketal, about 4.54 g of about 50% sodium hydride and about 350 ml of tetrahydrofuran was refluxed with stirring, under argon for about 18 hours and then filtered through celite. The solvent was removed and the residue was dissolved in ether. The ether solution was washed with aqueous monobasic sodium phosphate, dried and the solvent removed. The residue was subjected to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), using the system hexane:ethyl acetate (about 9:1), giving about 22.1 g of the desired title compound as a light yellow oil).
