In a 250 ml round bottom flask equipped with a magnetic stir bar and a septum with a nitrogen inlet, the iron powder (557.40 mg, 9.98 mmol) was suspended in clean, dry, reagent-grade ethanol (50.00 ml, 856.34 mmol) and the mixture was stirred together vigorously under nitrogen at room temperature as the acetic acid (5.00 ml, 87.34 mmol) was added. The reaction continued to stir at room temperature as the 2-chloro-N-(3-dimethylaminomethyl-benzyl)-4-[4-(2,5-dimethyl-phenyl)-piperazin-1-yl]-5-nitro-benzamide 13a (214.40 mg, 0.40 mmol) was added in one portion. The reaction mixture was then warmed to 75° C. and the reaction stirred for 4 h. After 4 h, the reaction was cooled to room temperature and filtered through Celite, washing with methanol. The solvent was then removed from the filtrate under reduced pressure. The ruby red oil was then taken back up in 100 ml of ethyl acetate; an equivalent amount of saturated aqueous NaHCO3 solution was added to the organic solution. The layers were then separated and the aqueous layer was extracted with ethyl acetate (2×75 ml). The organic phases were combined and dried over Na2SO4. The product solution was then decanted and the solvent was removed under reduced pressure. The crude product, 5-amino-2-chloro-N-(3-dimethylaminomethyl-benzyl)-4-[4-(2,5-dimethyl-phenyl)-piperazin-1-yl]-benzamide 13b (142.50 mg, 0.28 mmol), was isolated as a brown solid and was carried on without further purification. LCMS (m/e)=507 (M+H).
