2.32 g of the alcohol compound thus obtained was dissolved in a liquid mixture of 100 ml of tetrahydrofuran and 20 ml of dimethylformamide, and 0.34 g of 60% oily sodium hydride was added thereto with stirring under cooling with ice. The mixture was stirred at the same temperature for 30 minutes. Then, 1.47 g of 2-naphthylmethyl bromide was added thereto, and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 20 hours. Then, ethyl ether and water were added to the reaction solution for liquid separation. The organic layer was washed with a saturated sodium chloride aqueous solution and then dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The drying agent was separated by filtration, and then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure. The residue was subjected to silica gel column chromatography (hexane→hexane/ethyl acetate=50/1) for rough purification and then added to a liquid mixture of 100 me of tetrahydrofuran and 8 me of a 1M tetrahydrofuran solution of tetrabutylammonium fluoride. The mixture was stirred at room temperature for 3 hours. The reaction solution was concentrated under reduced pressure. Then, the residue was extracted by an addition of ethyl acetate and water. The organic layer was washed with a saturated sodium chloride aqueous solution and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The drying agent was separated by filtration, and then the solvent was distilled off under reduced pressure. The residue was subjected to silica gel column chromatography (hexane/ethyl acetate=20/1→5/1) to obtain 0.46 g (yield: 18%) of 4-(3,4- dichlorophenyl)-3-(2-naphthylmethoxy)-2-butanol.
