A 250 mL round bottom flask equipped with an argon inlet and magnetic stir bar was charged with 2-hydroxycyclohexyl benzoate (7.39 g, 33.6 mmol) in anhydrous CH2Cl2 (50 mL). The solution was cooled to 0° C. prior to the successive addition of trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (3.0 mL, 1.9.4 mmol) and 3,4-dimethoxyphenethyl 2,2,2-trichloroacetimidate (16.5 g, 50.4 mmol) dissolved in anhydrous CH2Cl2 (30 mL). The reaction mixture was stirred at r.t. for 3 days. The reaction was then quenched by the addition of H2O (100 mL). The aqueous layer was extracted with CH2Cl2 (3×100 mL). The combined organic extracts were washed successively with brine (2×100 mL) and distilled water (100 mL), dried over anhydrous MgSO4, and concentrated under vacuum. The crude material was purified by flash column chromatography (EtOAc-hexanes, 1:7, v/v,) to afford a yellow oil (8.69 g, 67%). Rf 0.77 (EtOAc-hexanes, 1:2, v/v,); 1H-NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3) δ 1.36 (m, 2H), 1.62 (m, 4H), 1.85-2.03 (m, 2H), 2.75 (t, 2H), 3.53 (m, 1H), 3.62 (m, 1H), 3.72 (m, 2H), 3.79 (s, 6H, OCH3), 6.76 (m, 3H, Ar), 7.38 (m, 2H, Ar), 7.53 (m, 1H, Ar), 8.00 (m, 2H, Ar).
