observed during a Friedel–Craftsacylation/demethylation cascade. In contrast to this cascade, oxygen-containing acylating reagents do not undergo the demethylation step. By the methodology elaborated here, an access is provided to important intermediates for the total synthesis of seminaphthorhodafluor (SNARF) dyes. High selectivity is observed during a Friedel–Craftsacylation/demethylation cascade