A solution of N,N-Diisopropylamine (13.98 mL, 98 mmol) in THF (55 mL) was cooled to −78° C. n-butyllithium (1.6M in hexanes, 61.3 mL, 98 mmol) was added portionwise via syringe, maintaining an internal temperature lower than −65° C. The reaction mixture warmed to −60° C. and aged for 45 min. and then cooled back to −78° C. A solution of N-[3-methyl-5-(1,3-thiazol-5-yl)phenyl]-4-(trifluoromethyl)pyrimidin-2-amine (INTERMEDIATE 4, 2.113 g, 6.28 mmol) in THF (55 mL) was transferred via cannula (using positive pressure) to the freshly made LDA over the course of 30 min, maintaining the internal temperature below −70° C. The reaction mixture was aged at −78° C. for 35 min, warmed to −50° C. and aged for another 15 min., then cooled to −70° C. A solution of methyl 2,2-dimethyl-4-oxocyclohexanecarboxylate (9.04 g, 49.1 mmol) in THF (50 mL) was transferred via cannula (using positive pressure) to the flask containing the lithium salt, over the course of 45 min, maintaining the internal temperature below −65° C. The reaction was aged at −65° C. for 20 min. The cold bath was removed and the reaction allowed to warm to rt. The solution was cooled to 0° C. and quenched using ethanol (1 mL) and water (1 mL). The mixture was diluted with EtOAc (1 L) and washed with saturated ammonium chloride (3 times, total volume of wash 1.5 L). The organic layer was concentrated under reduced pressure and purified by column chromatography on silica (0-30% EtOAc:Hexanes) to afford the title compound (149 mg, 0.8%) as a yellow solid. MS ESI: [M+H]+ m/z 489. 1H NMR (600 MHz, CDCl3) δ 8.66 (d, J=4.8, 1H), 7.89 (d, J=7.0, 2H), 7.39 (s, 1H), 7.29-7.22 (m, 1H), 7.11-7.01 (m, 2H), 2.40 (m, 1H) 2.39 (s, 3H), 2.29 (m, 2H), 2.15 (m, 2H), 2.05-1.90 (m, 2H), 1.24 (s, 3H), 1.15 (s, 3H). rhSYK activity=++
