General procedure for the synthesis of 2-(3-fluoro-2-nitrophenyl)acetic acid from dimethyl 2-(3-fluoro-2-nitrophenyl)malonate: dimethyl 2-(3-fluoro-2-nitrophenyl)malonate (2.53 g, 9.33 mmol) was suspended in water (20 mL). Concentrated hydrochloric acid (20 mL, 653 mmol) was slowly added to this suspension. The reaction mixture was heated to reflux and maintained under stirring for 5 hours. After completion of the reaction, the mixture was cooled to room temperature. The mixture was extracted twice with ether and the aqueous phase was discarded. The organic phases were combined, dried with anhydrous magnesium sulfate, filtered and concentrated to dryness. The residue was recrystallized by a 5:1 solvent mixture of hexane and ethyl acetate. The precipitated solid was collected, washed with hexane and subsequently dried under vacuum to afford the target compound 2-(3-fluoro-2-nitrophenyl)acetic acid as a white solid in 90% yield.1H NMR (300 MHz, chloroform-d) δ ppm: 3.85 (s, 2H), 7.08-7.19 (m, 1H), 7.20-7.28 (m, 1H), 7.38 -7.55 (m, 1H).
