Esterification of 2-nitrophenylacetic acid (I) with SOCl2 in MeOH produced methyl ester (II). Subsequent dialkylation of (II) using methyl iodide and NaH in the presence of 18-crown-6 gave methyl 2-nitrophenyl-2-methylpropionate (III), which was hydrolyzed to carboxylic acid (IV) with NaOH in MeOH. Finally, chemoselective acylation of the primery hydroxy group of 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine (V) with (IV) under Mitsunobu conditions yielded the title ester.