A 25-mL flask, with stirrer bar, was charged with methyl 2-(4-((2-(3-chlorophenyl)-6-ethylpyrimidin-4-yl)methyl)phenyl)acetate (64 mg, 0.17 mmol, 1.0 eq.) and THF (3 mL). Water (3 mL) and LiOH.H2O (21 mg, 0.50 mmol, 3.0 eq.) were added. The resulting mixture was stirred at room temperature for 17 hrs until the starting ester was consumed. The reaction mixture was diluted with water (10 mL) and acidified with 2N HCl. The mixture was extracted with ethyl acetate. The organic extract was washed with sat. sodium chloride (5 mL), dried over sodium sulfate, filtered, and concentrated under reduced pressure. The residue (88 mg) was purified by chromatography on silica gel using dichloromethane/methanol (10:0 to 9:1) as eluent to afford 2-(4-((2-(3-chlorophenyl)-6-ethylpyrimidin-4-yl)methyl)phenyl)acetic acid (40 mg, 66% yield) as a white solid. MW=366.84. 1H NMR (DMSO-d6, 500 MHz) δ 12.31 (br s, 1H), 8.40-8.33 (m, 2H), 7.62-7.53 (m, 2H), 7.31 (d, J=8.0 Hz, 2H), 7.26 (s, 1H), 7.21 (d, J=8.0 Hz, 2H), 4.10 (s, 2H), 3.51 (s, 2H), 2.78 (q, J=7.5 Hz, 2H), 1.26 (t, J=7.5 Hz, 3H).
