Results (2-Methyl-3-benzofury1) methyl benzoate (7) used in this work was prepared by the methylation of 3-benzofurancarboxylic acid (8), as indicated in Scheme I, to give 2-methyl-3- benzofurancarcarboxylic acid (9) followed by lithium aluminum hydride reduction to the corresponding alcohol (10) which was esterified with benzoyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine. Acid 8 was prepared by a known sequence of reactions which starts from ...