We report a simple and flexible synthetic route to simple 3-hydroxythiophenes [thiophen-3(2H)-ones], including the parent compound (la). ... 'Hydroxythiophenes are often very unstable, air-sensitive and acid-sensitive compounds which decompose easily .'I Simple members of the series therefore have been prepared only with difficulty, by low yielding and/or multi-step sequences, and little is known of their chemistry.1 Here we report a ...