The first synthesis of the phthalidic skeleton was realized by Logan and N e~ bold,~ who used orsellinic acid as starting material. Subsequently Birch4 and Canonicas published total syntheses of mycophenolic acid; both groups used as synthetic intermediates hydroxyphthalide derivatives, compounds lb and IC respectively, obtained by synthetic routes. Compound IC is a natural product isolated from Aspergillus flavu. x6
