New Synthesis of 3-(2-Furyl)phthalides

3-(2-Furyl)phthalides were synthesized for the first time by the reaction of 2-formylbenzoic acids with furan derivatives in the presence of an acidic catalyst. It was found that the reaction of 2-formylbenzoic acids and 2-alkylfurans in aqueous dioxane in the presence of perchloric acid leads to a mixture of 2-carboxyaryldifurylmethanes and 3-furylphthalides, which can be separated easily by preparative column chromatography. __________ Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 9, pp. 1302–1304, September, 2005.