A Facile Synthesis of 2-Hydroxy-6-Methylacetophenone

Abstract

Recently, we identified 2-hydroxy-6-methylacetophenone (3) and 2-acetoxy-6-methylacetophenone (4) as exocrine compounds in several neotropical species of ants in the dolichoderine genus Hypoclinea. Although 3 has been reported at least four times in the literature as a synthetic intermediate or as the object of a nuclear magnetic resonance study, neither 3 nor 4 had been reported as natural products, and 4 is a novel compound.^2,3,4,5