A solution of 2,2-difluoro-1-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]propan-1-one (1.19 g, 4.99 mmol) in ethanol (15 ml) was admixed with water (1.5 ml), hydroxylamine hydrochloride (695 mg, 10.0 mmol) and sodium acetate (922 mg, 11.2 mmol) and stirred at 75° C. for 21 h. The mixture, having been cooled to room temperature, was concentrated under reduced pressure, taken up in hydrochloric acid (1M) and extracted with ethyl acetate. The combined organic phases were dried over sodium sulphate and concentrated under reduced pressure. The remaining solid was dissolved in tetrahydrofuran (15 ml) and cooled to 0° C. under argon. Then lithium aluminium hydride (362 mg, 9.08 mmol) was added, and the mixture was first warmed up to room temperature and then heated under reflux for 2 h. Then the reaction mixture was cooled to 0° C. and first admixed with saturated ammonium chloride solution, diluted with sodium hydroxide solution (1 M) and extracted with ethyl acetate. The organic phase was dried over sodium sulphate, filtered and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure. The residue was dissolved in N,N-dimethylformamide (7.5 ml) and admixed successively with (2E)-3-[3-chloro-4-(cyclopropylcarbamoyl)phenyl]acrylic acid (250 mg, 0.94 mmol) and 4-(4,6-dimethoxy[1.3.5]triazin-2-yl)-4-methylmorpholinium chloride hydrate (270 mg, 0.97 mmol) and stirred at room temperature overnight. The reaction solution was admixed with hydrochloric acid (1 M) and extracted with ethyl acetate. The organic phase was washed with saturated sodium hydrogencarbonate solution and saturated sodium chloride solution, dried over sodium sulphate, filtered and concentrated to dryness under reduced pressure. The residue was chromatographed on a preparative HPLC with water/acetonitrile as the eluent (gradient=43 min from 10% acetonitrile in water to 100% acetonitrile).
