Elvia V. Cabrera, Jennifer L. Sánchez, A. K. Banerjee
Jan 1, 2011
Citations
0
Influential Citations
5
Citations
Journal
Organic Preparations and Procedures International
Abstract
Much interest has been shown recently in 2-tetralones bearing hydroxy, methyl and methoxy substituents in the aromatic ring because of their high reactivity and importance as raw materials for the synthesis of natural products.1,2 Among the methoxy-substituted compounds, 7,8-dimethoxy-2-tetralone (5) has drawn the attention of organic chemists for a long time due to its importance as an intermediate in the synthesis of analgesics, morphines3 and steroids.4 Recently tetralone 5 has been synthesized by Gorka at al.5 in ten steps with an overall yield of 18%. In addition, tetralone 5 had also been prepared by other authors.6,7 but most of the published syntheses report low yields of tetralone 5 and use starting materials that are not easily accessible. In connection with our studies on substituted tetralones,8,9 we devised a concise route for the synthesis of tetralone 5 (Scheme 1).