devise a synthesis of the product from the starting materal using any reagents of 2 carbons or less. identify the intermediates and reagents needed to perform the synthesis. the starting material is a 5 carbon ring with one substituent, c h 2 o h. in 5 steps, this reacts with reagents 1 through 5 to give a carbon bonded to a 5 carbon ring, two methyl substituents and an oxygen bonded to a carbonyl, which is bonded to a methyl group. strategy: in a synthesis, there is often more than one route that can make a compound. you may run into a dead end, so will need to consider a different route. alternatively, your substrate may form your desired product, but also react to form undesirable side products. a good synthetic strategy is to work backwards from each step. the product is an ester and the starting material is an amide. step 6: put it all together. place the intermediates and reagents in the labeled positions.