Inubushi and Amano3 prepared the diphenyl ether (8) by an Ullmann reaction between methyl 3-bromo-5-methoxybenzoate (9) and the potassium salt of methyl syringate (12). However, the bromide (9) was prepared from 3,5-dinitrobenzoic acid in five stages, and because of the length of this sequence and the low yield of (8) obtained, other methods of synthesizing (8) were sought. Both methyl 3-hydroxy-5-methoxybenzoate (10)4,5 and methyl 4-bromo-3,5- ...
