PURPOSE: To produce the subject compound useful as a coupler for a photosensitive material of color photography in a high yield at low cost using a general apparatus by reducing a 2-nitrophenol with a formic acid and subsequently amidating the reduced compound with a carboxylic acid halide.

CONSTITUTION: A compound of formula I (X is H or an eliminable group in the coupling reaction; Y is H or a lower alkyl; Z is H or a halogen) is reduced in the presence of formic acid or it salt of formula HCOOM (M is H, alkaline metal, etc.) in a transition metal catalyst (e.g. Pb-C)-containing solvent (e.g. ethyl acetate-DMAC) at -30 to 150°C under the ordinary pressure to obtain a 2-aminophenol of formula II. The compound of formula II is then reacted with a carboxylic acid halide of the formula ER1COX (R1 is an alkyl, an aryl or a heterocycl in a heterogeneous system composed of a polar solvent containing a water-immiscible organic solvent and an aqueous alkaline solution at -20 to 40°C, thus obtaining the objective compound of formula III.