Syntheses of 3-hydroxymethyl-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans and3-hydroxymethylbenzofurans

Abstract

Reactions of 2-hydroxyphenylmethanones 8 with 1-chloro-1-(benzotriazol-1- yl)alkanes 9 give intermediates 10a-h, which were converted by trimethylsulfonium iodide to oxirans 11a-h. Treatment of 11a-h with LDA gave either 3-hydroxymethyl-2,3-dihydrobenzofurans or 3-hydroxymethylbenzofurans depending on substituents.