General procedure: 41.5 g (300 mmol) of potassium carbonate and 200 mL of N,N-dimethylformamide were added to a reaction vial containing 30.6 g (200 mmol) of 2-methyl-3-nitrophenol. Under argon protection, 23.8 mL (200 mmol) of benzyl bromide was slowly added dropwise to the reaction system and the reaction was stirred at room temperature for 3 hours. Upon completion of the reaction, the reaction solution was poured into 1000 mL of water, extracted with 800 mL of toluene and the extraction was repeated once (500 mL of toluene). The organic phases were combined, washed sequentially with water and saturated aqueous sodium chloride, and dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate. The organic phase was concentrated under reduced pressure to give 49.3 g of yellow powdered 1-benzyloxy-2-methyl-3-nitrobenzene in quantitative yield. rf value: 0.48 (unfolding reagent: n-hexane/ethyl acetate=4:1, v/v). Mass spectrum (CI, m/z): 244 [M+1]+. 1H-NMR (CDCl3, δ ppm): 2.42 (s, 3H), 5.13 (s, 2H), 7.08-7.11 (m, 1H), 7.21-7.27 (m, 1H), 7.32-7.44 (m, 6H).
