A suspension of sodium hydride (60%, 0.008 g) in N,N-dimethylformamide (2 ml) was added with ethyl 2-[(5,6,6a,7,8,9-hexahydro-6a-methyl-4H-2-phenalenyl)amino]pyrimidine-5-carboxylate (0.033 g) dissolved in N,N-dimethylformamide (1 ml), and the mixture was stirred at room temperature for 10 minutes. The reaction mixture was added with bromoethane (0.021 ml), and the mixture was stirred overnight. The reaction mixture was added with saturated aqueous ammonium chloride, and the mixture was extracted with diethyl ether. The organic layer was washed successively with water and saturated brine, and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. The organic layer was concentrated under reduced pressure, and the resulting residue was suspended in ethanol (5 ml), the suspension was added with 20% aqueous sodium hydroxide (1 ml), and the mixture was stirred at 50° C. for 3 hours. The reaction mixture was left to cool and then made acidic with 2 N aqueous hydrochloric acid, and the mixture was extracted with chloroform. The organic layer was washed successively with water and saturated brine, and dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate. The organic layer was concentrated under reduced pressure, and the resulting residue was recrystallized from chloroform-n-hexane to obtain the title compound (0.025 g, yield: 76%) as colorless needles (melting point: 257-258° C.).
