Nitrobenzophenones are prepared from a mandelic acid dioxolanone. The sequence starts with the aromatic nucleophilic substitution of the enolate of the dioxolanone onto p-fluoronitrobenzenes, followed by hydrolysis of the acetal moiety and oxidative decarboxylation of the resulting α-hydroxyacids. The whole sequence involves the use of mandelic acid as synthetic equivalent of the benzoyl carbanion.
acetals - nucleophilic aromatic substitutions - ketones - oxygen - oxidations - decarboxylation