A short synthetic route to (4R,8R)-1-iodo-4,8,12-trimethyltridecane (1) starting from phytol (3), involving Baeyer-Villiger oxidation as the key step, is described. Briefly, ozonolysis of enol, phytol (3) affords ketone, phytone (4) as outlined in Chart 1. Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of phytone (4) affords intermediate 5. The remaining two steps involve conversion of acetate (5) to alcohol 6 followed by iodination to yield the target iodo compound 1.