A Convenient Synthesis of 3-Methoxyphthalic Anhydride

Abstract

Many antibiotics of the anthracycline family¹ possess structures for which 3-methoxyphthalic anhydride (1) would be a suitable synthon² in a total synthesis. A classic synthesis of (1) has employed 3-nitrophthalic acid³ but, in our hands, proceeded in low overall yield. Recent syntheses have utilized the Diels Alder reaction of dimethyl acetylenedicarboxylate (2) with 1-methoxy-1,3-cyclohexadiene,⁴ 1,4-diacetoxybutadiene,⁵ 2-acetoxyfuran,⁶ 2-methoxyfuran⁷ or furan⁸ to obtain 3-hydroxyphthalic acid or a derivative. We now wish to report a convenient Diels-Alder synthesis of (1) from 3-methoxy-2-pyrone (3).