Practical synthesis of mumefural, a component of Japanese apricot juice concentrate

A practical four-step method for the synthesis of mumefural from malic acid is described. The key step of this method involves the alkylation of acetal-protected malic acid with bromoacetate, followed by condensation with 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural. Some of the 13C NMR data for our products differed from those previously reported, and further analysis indicated that the previously reported assignments were partly erroneous.

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