g 91 yield of 4 hydroxy 4 39 1 2s methylbutyloxy ethyl biphenyl n d 20 1 5479 u03b1 d 20 60 0 u00b0 c 1 chcl 3 1 14 g 5 mmol of 4 benzyloxy 1 phenethyl alcohol iii 1 obtained in example 1 was dissolved in 15 ml of dry pyridine followed by dropwise addition of 0 51 g 5 5 mmol of propionic acid chloride the mixture was stirred at room temperature for one hour then poured into 100 ml of 2n hydrochloric acid and extracted with 50 ml of toluene the toluene layer was washed with water then with a 7 sodium bicarbonate solution and further with water and then dried over anhydrous magnesium sulfate the solvent was distilled off from the toluene solution under reduced pressure and the residue was purified by silica gel column chromatography to give 1 4 g 99 yield of propionic ester of 4 benzyloxy 1 phenethyl alcohol ii 21 this ester was further purified by recrystallizing it from ethanol m p 52 u00b0 c u03b1 d sup u00b0 93 0 u00b0 c 1 chcl 3 1 14 g 4 mmol of ii 21 obtained here was mixed with 10 ml of methanol and 0 2 g of 5 pd carbon and the mixture was subjected to catalytic hydrogenation in a hydrogen atmosphere under normal pressure when the hydrogen absorption reached 100 ml the reaction was stopped and the catalyst was filtered away the filtrate was concentrated and the residue was purified by column chromatography using a 5 2 mixture of toluene and ethyl acetate as eluent to obtain 0 73 g 93 5 yield of 4 1 39 propionyloxyethyl phenol m p 71 u00b0 72 u00b0 c.