Reaction Steps
A 60% mineral oil suspension of NaH (279 mg, 6.98 mmol) in anhydrous DMF (10 mL) was cooled to 0° C. in an ice bath and solid 3-(3,4-Dimethoxyphenyl)-1-(3-hydroxyphenyl)propan-1-one (7) (2 g, 6.98 mmol) added in one portion. The resulting yellow solution was stirred for 5 min after which time tert-butylbromoacetate (1.18 mL, 7.33 mmol) was added. Stirring was continued at 0° C. for 15 min after which time the reaction mixture was warmed to room temperature and partitioned between diethyl ether (50 mL) and water (50 mL). The organic layer was washed with a saturated NaCl solution (2×50 mL), dried over MgSO4, filtered, evaporated, and flash chromatographed (silica gel, 30% EtOAc/hexanes) to afford 230 g (82%) of a clear colorless oil: IR (neat) 2980, 1750, 1685, 1590, 1515, 1260, 1155 cm−1; 1H NMR (CDCl3, 300 MHz) 7.59 (d, J=7.7 Hz, 1H), 7.49 (s, 1H), 7.39 (app t, J=8.0 Hz, 1H), 7.14 (dd, J=8.2, 2.6 Hz, 1H), 6.81-6.79 (m, 3H), 4.58 (s, 2H), 3.89 (s, 3H), 3.88 (s, 3H), 3.28 (t, J=7.3 Hz, 2H), 3.02 (t, J=7.8 Hz, 2H), 1.51 (s, 9H); 13C NMR (CDCl3, 75 MHz) 199.2, 168.0, 158.6, 149.3, 147.8, 138.7, 134.2, 130.1, 121.8, 120.6, 113.5, 112.2, 111.8, 108.1, 83.0, 66.1, 56.2, 41.1, 30.2, 28.4.
