2-Phenylbenzofuran is a natural product, and its derivatives (known as 2-phenylbenzofurans) have been isolated from various plants, such as Artocarpus pithecogallus,[2]legumes, and mulberries.[3][4]
Because there is a substituent at position 2, this benzofuran compound cannot be synthesized by the Perkin rearrangement from a coumarin. However, an alternate sequence has been demonstrated: treatment of 3-phenylcoumarin with aluminium hydride followed by DDQ:[3]
^Borges, Rosivaldo S.; Aguiar, Christiane P. O.; Oliveira, Nicole L. L.; Amaral, Israel N. A.; Vale, Joyce K. L.; Chaves Neto, Antonio M. J.; Queiroz, Auriekson N.; da Silva, Albérico B. F. (August 2023). "Antioxidant capacity of simplified oxygen heterocycles and proposed derivatives by theoretical calculations". Journal of Molecular Modeling. 29 (8). doi:10.1007/s00894-023-05602-8. ISSN1610-2940.
^Agarwal, A.; Mishra, R.; Paliwal, S. (2012), Khemani, L. D.; Srivastava, M. M.; Srivastava, Shalini (eds.), "A QSAR Study Investigating the Potential Anti-Leishmanial Activity of Cationic 2-Phenylbenzofurans", Chemistry of Phytopotentials: Health, Energy and Environmental Perspectives, Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, pp. 137–141, doi:10.1007/978-3-642-23394-4_30, ISBN978-3-642-23393-7