Under hydrogen atmosphere (30 psi), 1-benzyloxy-2,3-difluoro-4-nitrobenzene (14 g, 52.8 mmol) was dissolved in methanol (200 mL), 10% Pd/C catalyst (1.4 g, 1.3 mmol) was added, and the reaction was stirred for 2 hours. After completion of the reaction, the catalyst was removed by filtration and the filtrate was concentrated in vacuum to afford 4-amino-2,3-difluorophenol (7 g, 92% yield). The structure of the product was confirmed by 1H NMR (400 MHz, DMSO-d6): δ 9.05 (s, 1H), 6.45 (t, J = 8.8 Hz, 1H), 6.34 (t, J = 9.2 Hz, 1H), 4.67 (s, 2H); Mass Spectra (ESI) m/z: 146.1 [M + H]+.
