[2-(hydroxymethyl)-3,6-dimethylphenyl]methanol

Conditions: temp:0.00; pressure:0.00; stir:

Conditions: temp:0.00; pressure:0.00; stir:

Conditions: temp:0.00; pressure:0.00; stir:; See reaction.notes.procedure_details.

Procedure: A 1 L 3-necked RBF is charged with 1,2-bis(hydroxymethyl)-3,6-dimethyl-benzene 3 (22.05 g, 0.133 mol), activated 85% manganese(IV) oxide (135.69 g, 1.327 mol), 4 Å molecular sieves (12.00 g) and anhydrous dichloromethane (500 mL), and placed under nitrogen. The reaction mixture is heated to reflux and stirred for 22 h. The reaction mixture is filtered through Kieselguhr and washed thoroughly with dichloromethane. The filtrate is concentrated in vacuo to yield the product 4 as a cream solid (19.79 g, 92%): 1H-NMR (300 MHz, CDCl3) δ 7.31 (d, 1H, 3J=7.5 Hz), 7.18 (d, 1H, 3J=7.5 Hz), 5.18 (s, 2H), 2.65 (s, 3H), 2.29 (s, 3H); 13C-NMR (75 MHz, CDCl3) δ 171.7, 145.8, 136.9, 134.5, 130.8, 129.3, 122.9, 68.3, 16.96, 16.91. The reaction mixture is heated to reflux The reaction mixture is filtered through Kieselguhr washed thoroughly with dichloromethane The filtrate is concentrated in vacuo

Conditions: temp:-78.01; pressure:0.00; stir:; See reaction.notes.procedure_details.

Procedure: A 1 L 3-necked RBF is charged with a 1.0M lithium aluminium hydride solution in tetrahydrofuran (175 mL, 0.175 mol) and anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (100 mL) under nitrogen. The solution is cooled to −78° C. and a solution of 1,7-dimethyl-4,10-dioxa-tricyclo[5.2.1.02,6]dec-8-ene-3,5-dione 2 (12.3 g, 0.070 mol) in anhydrous tetrahydrofuran (150 mL) is added from a dropping funnel over a period of 30 minutes The reaction mixture is heated to reflux and stirred for 45 h. The reaction mixture is cooled to 0° C. using an ice bath and 2M sodium hydroxide solution (20 mL) is slowly added dropwise. The mixture is allowed to warm up to 22° C. and the precipitate is filtered off and washed thoroughly with diethyl ether and tetrahydrofuran. The filtrate is concentrated in vacuo. is heated to reflux The reaction mixture is cooled to 0° C. to warm up to 22° C. the precipitate is filtered off washed thoroughly with diethyl ether and tetrahydrofuran The filtrate is concentrated in vacuo

Conditions: temp:0.00; pressure:0.00; stir: