trast to the synthesis of 4, the acetal function in 7 survived the conditions of the Batcho- Leimgruber sequence and workup. The required acetal 7 was synthesized from 2-methyl-3- nitrobenzaldehyde (5), available from 2, by two procedures. A Wittig reaction with (methoxymethy1) triphenylphosphorane gave 1-(2-methoxyethenyl)-2-methyl-3- nitrobenzene (6a) which was converted to 7 with methanol and hydrogen chloride. ...
