2-(4-Trifluoromethyl-phenyl)-pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde → (+/-)-1-(2-(4-(Trifluoromethyl)phenyl)pyrimidin-5-yl)butan-1-ol

To a −78° C. solution of 2-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)pyrimidine-5-carbaldehyde (1.0 g, 3.96 mmol) in THF (20 mL) was added n-propylmagnesium bromide (2.97 mL of a 2.0M solution in THF, 5.95 mmol). The solution was stirred at 0° C. for two hours. The mixture was quenched with saturated aqueous NH4Cl, dried over anhydrous Na2SO4, filtered and concentrated under reduced pressure. The crude residue was purified by silica gel chromatography to give (+/−)-1-(2-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)pyrimidin-5-yl)butan-1-ol (1.1 g) as a red oil. 1H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl3) δ 8.75 (s, 2H), 8.50 (d, J=8.0 Hz, 2H), 7.68 (d, J=8.0 Hz, 2H), 4.79-4.68 (m, 1H), 1.98-1.91 (m, 1H), 1.85-1.63 (m, 2H), 1.47-1.29 (m, 2H), 0.92 (t, J=7.2 Hz, 3H).