To a solution of N-isopropylcyclohexylamine (720 mg, 5.0 mmol) (Aldrich) in dry tetrahydrofuran (10 mL) was added n-butyllithium (2.5 M in hexanes, 2.0 mL, 5.0 mmol) (Aldrich) at −78° C. under argon. After 30 minutes, a solution of 4-pyridylacetic acid ethyl ester (826 mg, 5.0 mmol) (Lancaster) in tetrahydrofuran (3 mL) was added by injection via a syringe and the reaction mixture was stirred at −78° C. for another 30 minutes. To the reaction mixture was added a solution of 2,4-dichloro-5-iodomethyl-pyrimidine (722.5 mg, 2.5 mmol) (from Example 1c supra) in tetrahydrofuran (3 mL) at −78° C. and the reaction mixture was stirred at the same temperature for 1 hour then slowly allowed to warm up to −30° C. and stirred for 10 minutes. The reaction mixture was diluted with ethyl acetate (100 mL) and successively washed with saturated aqueous ammonium chloride solution (50 mL), water (30 mL) and brine (30 mL), dried over anhydrous sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated in vacuo to give the crude 3-(2,4-dichloro-pyrimidin-5-yl)-2-pyridin-4-yl-propionic acid ethyl ester which was used in the next step without further purification. (Yield 1.43 g, 83.6%).
